Lie To Me
by craucm01
Summary: Ezra and Aria had the perfect marriage, looking at it from afar. They had just purchased their first house and were starting a family. Often being asked how they kept it together and kept the love alive, they thought that they were both being truthful. But one of them has a pretty little secret that threatens to tear them apart.
1. Intro

Ezra gripped his hands on the counter top, staring himself in the eyes through the mirror.

'You've really done it now. There's no undo button for this one...' he thought to himself.

He broke his gaze and reached down to the collar of his shirt, pulling it to his nose. Did he smell like her? Did her makeup rub off on to his shoulder?

He opened the cabinet and ruffled through the contents. Nothing that would work for him. He should have figured, since a man didn't live here.

Ezra ran some water in the sink, splashing his face and running water through his hair. He wanted, no he needed, a shower. But stripping down in this apartment again just felt wrong.

'This was a mistake. We can't do this again,' he practiced in his head. 'We can make a clean break and never speak of this again. That's what's best.' He thought he would hold her hands at the wrist while he told her, look at her eyebrows instead of her eyes.

That's what he thought he would do.

"Ezra, you forgot your socks." She popped the door open and walked in to the bathroom with no hesitation.

"Hey, privacy?" He rose an eyebrow and put his hand on the door, trying to keep her out.

"Hey, my bathroom?" She pushed on through placing his dirty socks beside him on the counter.

"So Mr. Fitz..." she placed her lips near his ear, twirling one of his curls with her left hand. "Will I see you again tomorrow?"

"No. No you won't." He dried his hands and left the bathroom, leaving his socks.

"And you can't tell anyone you even met me today. We can't do this anymore." He hoisted his messenger bag over his shoulder.

"Aria would leave me if she ever found out."


	2. Chapter 1 - The Guilt

To say that Ezra was ashamed was putting it lightly.

He couldn't even begin to explain how his _affair_ had started. That word. **Affair.** It burned at him. It ate away at him at night when he was lying in bed next to his wife. His wife who would do anything for him, to make him happy. Aria worked long hours every day, including weekends, running a photography studio out of a small space in NYC. It was all she could do to pay her lease every month, Ezra's job picked up the rest. Yet she was always the first one up, making him breakfast and brewing him coffee to put in his to-go cup. He was so thankful for her, yet he treated her so ungratefully.

His affair wasn't the first issue that had arisen in their relationship. They had been married for three years now, and there was still no pitter patter of baby feet. They both longed to hold a baby of their own. To design a nursery and spend hours within its walls, reading books and changing diapers. But their attempts were yet to prove fruitful. Aria hadn't had more than three times when she thought it could have been possible and each time she saw just one line on the test she locked herself in the bathroom to pee on three more, before she admitted her defeat to Ezra. She felt like a broken woman, and wasn't herself most of the time. She put on the facade of happiness, of feeling whole, but a family wasn't two people. A family was three or more, and she was deflated that she couldn't conceive a child to give Ezra the family that they had always talked about.

As he drove home from his afternoon with his _girlfriend_ , he couldn't help but wonder if today would be the day. The day that he slipped up and left her house smelling more fruity than floral. Aria always wore a very light floral perfume, she had for as long as he had known her. The other woman wore a citrusy body spray, and she sprayed it heavily, especially after they spent afternoons together. Not that she had anything to hide, but it didn't make her feel right spending the rest of her evening smelling like someone else's _husband_ , either. He parked his car several blocks away from their home, the same spot every time. He checked himself, his pockets and his messenger bag for any sign of her. He was extremely thorough, following a ritual. This had gone on longer than he would care to admit, and never would admit even if asked.

Ezra slowly pulled his Nissan Altima in front of their home and turned the key, killing the engine. There was no sign of Aria's Jetta, he let out a sigh of relief. He always felt better when he could come home first. He immediately would walk to the bathroom, strip himself of clothing and hop in the shower. Sudsing up twice in an effort to wash _her_ off of his skin. But today Aria pulled in only seconds after Ezra. He gulped hard and looked at himself in the rearview mirror one last time before getting out of the car and pretending to gather papers to place in his bag off of his seat.

"I made it home on time tonight, can you believe it?! And I come baring gifts! Chinese take out, just how you like it. Extra messy and extra chinese-y," Aria swung the bags in front of her with a grin. Ezra stayed facing his seat, intentionally ignoring her, before he finally put on his brave face and turned around to her.

"Oh that sounds awesome, I'm starving." He tossed the strap to his bag over his shoulder and placed an arm around Aria's waist as they walked up the sidewalk to their home.

 **Their home.**

The home that they had scrimped and saved to purchase. Aria worked weekends in a boutique in the mall. Ezra did tutoring and mentoring on the side. Anything to save up enough to put the minimal down payment down on a house. They spent months picking out the perfect place to start their family. And they had compromised. Aria wanted a condo in the city, Ezra wanted a ranch style in the country. They ended up with a two story cape cod style in a small town right outside of the city. It had a small drive way, and a small backyard that butted up against another small backyard, but it was theirs. The day they had gotten the keys to it Ezra picked Aria up and carried her over the threshold in true Ezra fashion, sticking to all of the norms of new marital bliss.

Now he was doing the walk of shame up the sidewalk, with his wife right beside him. And she had no idea that just hours earlier he had crossed a different threshold of another woman and given her something that she had wanted so badly from him.

As they sat down at the table to eat dinner Aria pulled a pamphlet out of her purse and slid it across the table to Ezra.

"So I went today...I uh, I know you told me not to. But I can't wait anymore." She bit into a noodle and finished speaking in to her plate.

"I know it's expensive but we can finance it. And I'll be fine, I'm not worried about the needles and the tests."

"Aria, we talked about this. We haven't been trying long enough naturally to justify spending this kind of money. It's out of the question." Ezra attempted to shut her down.

"I'm sorry Ezra, but we have been trying to have a baby for THREE years. And frankly, we weren't trying very hard not to before that. I'm ready and it just isn't happening for me...and I want this." Aria sat stern faced in her chair, placing her fork down on the table.

"Let's take the steps to finally make us a family Ezra. Don't we deserve it? Don't you think we've earned it?"

Ezra wiped his mouth with a napkin, staring at the center of the table where the pamphlet lay staring at him. He scooted his chair out and left the conversation in silence.

"You can't run from this Ezra. It's happening. I'm doing it. FOR US." Aria's voice was starting to waver now.

Inside, Ezra was elated at the idea of finally attempting IVF. Of having one, maybe even two children to call his own. But the guilt had hardened him. Aria deserved to have a family with someone who could remain faithful to her. Not someone who snuck off on his lunch break, or called in a sub so he could spend the day with another woman.

Aria was pushing him farther away, when all she was trying to do was bring him closer.


	3. Chapter 2 - Twinkle Twinkle

Being the other woman in an affair isn't as easy as everyone thinks it should be. You're just the afternoon delight, a lunch time special. And when he's done with you, he gets to go home for second helpings from his wife. And you are left alone, to feel second best, waiting to see if he'll come back to you tomorrow. Constantly wondering if that night would be the night he would tell her, or she would finally figure it out on her own.

She couldn't help but feel that Aria was just a little stupid. She had been sleeping with her husband for a little over six months and Aria was still clueless, as far as she knew.

Yet while it wasn't easy, it was exciting. And she deserved something exciting in her life again. She had never been a thrill seeker when she was younger (yet it found her anyway, usually) and it was exilherating, to be chased. Especially when she was being sought out by a forbidden fruit.

"I finally found someone who can work on editing for me at night, so we can start having dinner together again!" Aria yelled to Ezra over the sound of the shower. As she finished sliding the last button through the hole at the top of her dress she looked up out of the corner of her eye, awaiting his response.

"Ezra, did you hear me?"

He was glad that there was steam covering up the glass of the shower as he pursed his lips together and stared at his feet.

"Yea babe, that's great..." he trailed off. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he wiped away enough condensation from the glass to place the palm of his hand flatly against it. Aria gave a small closed-lipped smile and placed her hand on is from the other side. Although a small gesture, it was one that they had come to do a lot. Especially on mornings when Ezra left early for faculty meetings or Aria was running out the door to catch the train. She tilted her head to the side and watched as she allowed her hand to slid down and off the shower wall. She turned her back to the water and paused for a second before starting to walk out of the bathroom. A damp hand reached out for her shoulder and spun her around.

"I love you." he cupped her chin with his hand and tilted her face up to him. Kissing her sweetly and unexpectedly.

"No Aria Fitz. I mean, I _really_ love you. Have I told you that lately?"

Her heart jumped in to her throat. She hadn't thought much about it, but he hadn't. She had assumed that it was because of her insistence on beginning IVF treatments. He hadn't been looking in to her eyes when she tried to talk to him. He would pick up a book to read if she sat down next to him on the couch. Dinners had turned to small talk instead of conversation. Aria was starting to wonder if having a baby was really worth all of this. She felt like Ezra was starting to push her away.

"I really have to go to work this morning, my new editor is coming in at eleven and I need-" Ezra cut her off, placing his index finger up against her lips to shush her.

"Do you feel that?" He pretended to hunch over a little, "I think we both have food poisoning today. Don't you feel that knot in your stomach...right here?" He slid his left hand up under the hem of her dress and ran it up to her waist. Aria's eyes widened.

"Are you asking me to play hookie with you today, Mr. Fitz?"

He hoisted her body up on to the bathroom counter. Nuzzling his face in to her neck he whispered, "I plan on it. I already lined up a sub for today. S _urprise._ _"_

Ezra had indeed lined up a sub for today, but it was not originally intended for spending time with Aria He had planned to go to _her_ house and spend the day. But something inside him shifted when they pressed their palms to the shower glass this morning.

That afternoon Ezra silenced his phone and left it tucked in the back pocket of his jeans. He ha promised Aria that they could go to a small town a few miles away from their home and walk the small strip of boutiques that she loved. He was trying hard to make himself fell better about what he had done to her, and maybe a few swipes of his credit card could take away the guilt, at least for today.

As they walked hand-in-hand down the sidewalk Ezra kept glancing down at Aria. He thought of their wedding day and how stunning she looked wearing a short, white lace gown. With a small veil pulled over her eyes, carrying a bouquet of peonys and babys breath as she strode down the aisle to him, and only him. He couldn't help but wonder how he had allowed himself to stray away from her for so long. She had grown her hair out again and it fell in heavy waves down her back, touching the top of her waist. Today a floppy sunhat adorned her head. She had insisted that they dress incognito if they were going out in public with 'food poisoning'. Ezra absentmindedly adjusted the ball cap on his head. Just then, he felt his arm being tugged to the right.

"Let's just..window shop." Aria insisted.

"Everything is so..." "Expensive?" She interrupted him. He gulped and nodded, picking up a small pair of white socks. "$20..for socks?" He questioned. When he set them back down on the table and looked up again Aria was nowhere to be found. He took a quick glance over each shoulder and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Three missed calls, two voicemails and five text messages He sighed to himself and shoved the phone back down deep into his pocket.

When he stepped around a large display of bibs and burg rags he found Aria gently running her fingers over a small blanket. She was smiling to herself, but her smile dropped and she hung the blanket back up on the wall when she realized Ezra was watching her. She cleared her throat and turned on her heels to keep walking when in her peripheral vision, she noticed Ezra pick up the same blanket.

He held it in both hands, gingerly running the pads of his thumbs over the thick grey minky dots. He read the embroidery on the satin border down the side.

" _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Do You Know How Loved You Are?"_

Without saying a word he strode up to the counter and paid for the blanket. Aria's brows furrowed as she stood in confusion in the back aisle of the store.

Ezra took the handles of the yellow paper sack from the cashier and walked it to Aria.

"Because I've never seen anyone look at a blanket the way you looked at this one. And I can only imagine the way you will look at our baby wrapped in it." Aria took the bag, looking at Ezra with the same expression she had when she noticed he was purchasing it.

"I have a really good feeling about this afternoon."

He winked at her and grabbed her hand to leave.


	4. Chapter 3 - What We Had

Aria held her breath tightly in her chest as she tapped the box up and down against the bathroom counter. Her mind finally blank, for just one second if nothing more.

She had stopped and picked it up on her way hoe that night. She knew the location within the store all too well. She had glared at them many times before while picking up her tampons. It usually felt as if they were mocking her from the grocery store shelving, but not today. Today, she actually got to claim a box as her own and place it in her basket.

'One small victory,' she thought to herself, down what has been a long tedious road. Just needing to purchase the test in the first place was a big deal, and a huge first step.

But she couldn't bare to take it. What if it was another big fat slap in the face. Another rejection. Another negative. The door to impending motherhood slamming on her foot after she had finally gotten the chance to stick her toes in.

She closed her eyes and tore open the box, ripped open the wrapper with her teeth and sat down on the toilet. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she surprised herself with how easily she was able to relax and 'go'. And now it was the waiting game. She slapped the test down on the counter and tried to stare at the wall in front of her. Trying to focus on the shelving in front of her that held perfumes and hair ties, she noticed that she could still see the test laying on the counter out of the corner of her eye. Her left hand flew to the counter and flipped the test upside down.

And there Aria sat. With her underwear still around her ankles. Playing the waiting game.

Ezra had told Aria that he had meetings with several parents that evening and wouldn't be home for dinner. Yet he found himself driving to her house. He knew he needed to end it. He wasn't falling in love with her, not that he had hoped that he would be, but living a double live was making him fall out of love with his marriage also. Not necessarily with Aria, just the union that they created. Marriage made him feel trapped, tied down and overwhelmed. All of the things that he had once fought so desperately for. There was so much pressure to provide for her. Money, support...a baby.

Aria was sitting in the same spot still ten minutes later. She hadn't touched the test yet. Her arms were bent at the elbows, resting on top of her thighs. She was biting absentmindedly at her thumb nails. Not blinking, not breathing, just being. She wanted to flip the test over and see that beautiful pink plus sign more than she had ever wanted anything before. She longed for it even more than she had longed to be with Ezra. That little plus sign was the answer to all of her prayers and the solution to all of their problems. She closed her eyes and placed her hand flatly over the test, lengthwise. Quickly sliding it off of the counter and into her lap, still lying face down. She picked it up by the ends, holding it between her forefinger and thumb gingerly. After a long second she closed her eyes and flipped the results to face her.

Ezra stood inside the front door of her home. Hand nervously running up and down the straps of his messenger bag.

"You can come in you know." She yelled from the couch, not bothering to greet him at the door. Ezra cleared his throat.

"No, I really I uh .. I can't stay." There was silence.

"Well okay." She continued to sit in her living room. She knew she could wait him out. She could make him come to her.

"Hanna. I really need to talk to you, but I...I don't feel comfortable coming inside."

She let out a long, dramatic sigh. He used to walk right in to her home like he lived there.

Like he belonged.

In the beginning, it was all so strange. She had never, ever, felt an attraction to Mr. Fitz before. She even struggled to call him Ezra. That was far too personal of a place to go with your English teacher. But Aria had put everyone in a strange position. Deciding that it was worth making everyone hold a secret as huge as Mr. Fitz from the world. Eventually, their love affair became a romance that Hanna felt herself enamored with. The forbidden love, the way that people looked at them in public, yet how they still chose to look at each other. She wanted that kind of love for herself. But there were no other cute teachers for her to choose from. So without meaning to, without it evening really crossing her mind that it was happening, she slowly started to seduce Ezra.

It didn't happen over night. It was a work of several years in the making. And then, there they were one night. Hanna had parked her car next to his in the faculty lot at Rosewood, waiting for him to come out. Expecting to have to get out of the car and explain through embarrassment what she was doing camped out next to Ezra's car at five o'clock in the afternoon when she should have been at work.

But that didn't happen. When he walked out of the building and saw her car next to his, he simply walked up to it, opened up the door and sat down in the passenger seat.

And now they were here.

"I cant't see you anymore Hanna." He caught a lump in his throat and swallowed it back down. He could not be getting emotional in front of her. She was his mistress, and he needed to end this affair tonight for the sake of his wife. One of her best friends. She should understand.

"What, did Aria find out?" Hanna crossed her arms in defense and stared Ezra dead in the eyes.

"No, it isn't that. I'm thinking about asking for a separation, and if we separate ... it's because I need to be alone. I can't see you anymore Hanna." And with that he turned to walk out the door.

"Are you KIDDING me right now!? You have the PERFECT life Ezra. Everything you have ever dreamed of having is sitting in your lap. And you're going to throw it all away so you can sit in self pity? You look at me as a mistake don't you. I played with your mind, made you doubt your feelings for your wife...for the life that you built?" Hanna was slowly taking steps towards Ezra, arms still crossed over her chest.

"I was going to do you a favor and break it off with you tonight. I was gong to save you from destroying your marriage, but I see you're doing that yourself." He had stopped just outside the door.

"Why would you do that?" He spoke straight ahead, not turning back.

"Don't worry about it. You won't have to deal with it. Good bye Ezra." And with that Hanna shut the door on Ezra, and the affair that they had been sharing.

Aria had peed on two other tests. She felt deflated, empty.

All three were negative.

She had been SO sure. She had just felt it.

She was late. She was tired, her chest was sore.

And yet there she sat, with three negative tests staring her right in the face.

She scooped them all up in to her hands and threw them in the waste basket.


	5. Chapter 4 - Say What

Aria hadn't told Ezra about all of the negative pregnancy tests. Ezra hadn't told Aria about Hanna. They were living two different lives, that they had seamlessly woven in to one big lie. One feeling more guilty than the other, though.

Ezra hadn't talked to Hanna in weeks, and he was surprised when he didn't even feel a pang of sadness. He knew that he hadn't fallen in love with her, but they had shared intimate moments and believe it or not, some great conversation. He expected himself to miss that, at least a little bit.

It was hard to look at Aria. It was even more difficult to hold a conversation with her.

On a Tuesday morning, it was dull and grey outside. It looked like it was about to start raining at any minute. Ezra was walking in to the kitchen, straightening his tie like he always did before pouring himself a cup of coffee to go, when he noticed Aria sitting in the living room out of the corner of his eye. He did a double take, she should have left the house forty-five minutes ago. Yet there she was. Her hair piled in a huge, loose, messy bun with whispy pieces falling all around her face. She had on yoga pants, no socks and a baggy hoodie. Ezra's hoodie. For a moment he recalled within his mind an image of Hanna wearing the same hoodie, sitting on her couch in her underwear. He shook his head to bring himself back to reality.

"Aria...what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to open the studio?" She covered her mouth with a sleeve-covered hand. The look she gave him made his stomach drop. Her eyes were filled with hurt.

He couldn't help but wonder if she knew. Should he tell her? Would it lessen the blow if he confessed everything to her right in this very minute? Without realizing it, he released the handle of his suitcase from his grip and it fell, crashing in to the floor and tipping over. The sound broke Aria's fixation she had staring at Ezra's chin, and she finally looked over his shoulder and in to the kitchen. Staring blankly at the cupboards.

She raised her lips from the sleeve, they were dry and cracking.

"I'm not pregnant."

Ezra felt guilty when his heart began to beat again. He could handle this, at least for now. This wasn't the news he was expecting, but he would happily take this over having THAT talk with Aria this morning.

"Aria..." Ezra sat down next to her on the couch, attempting to place his arms around him. She scooted away from him, still avoiding eye contact.

"Aria...What's the matter?" that sinking feeling was returning again. He was thankful that he hadn't made it in to the kitchen yet to eat any breakfast, that surely wouldn't be sitting well in his stomach right now.

"But Hanna's pregnant."

He felt the vomit rise within his throat. Getting sick at the news of one of Aria's friends being pregnant was not the way he wanted to address this topic, so he quickly swallowed it down and squeezed his grip on the back of the couch. Ezra hoped that he was retaining color in his face.

"W-Wh...Wow. I didn't even know uh...she was seeing someone? That's sudden."

Ezra was not playing it cool. He was not playing it coy like he thought he could. Yet, he had never imagined getting this kind of news.

"Yea. No one knew. She's just as surprised as you seem to be." Aria began picking at her finger nail. Slowly peeling the paint off, piece by piece.

"Hanna's not going to be a good mom."

Again, another invisible blow to Ezra's gut. First he learned that his ex-mistress is expecting, what he believes to be, his child. Now he hears his wife discuss what a poor mother said mistress will be. Which seemed out of character, considering ex-mistress was one of current wife's best friends.

She continued on, "She doesn't even want her baby. Can you believe it? I would give my left boob for a baby and Hanna wants to just give hers away." Ezra was sure that the color had drained from his face now. He needed an escape. He needed to get out of this living room and get to Hanna's house, to figure out what in the hell was going on.

Aria finally locked eyes with Ezra.

"I took a pregnancy test. No...correction. I took four pregnancy tests a few weeks ago. And every single one was a big, fat, ugly, heart busting negative. Four different times I got shut out from motherhood. Again. And I couldn't even tell you, because I'm failing you. I'm keeping you back from being a Dad, which I know you want even more than I do." Her explanation was hauntingly emotionless. All facts.

"And people like Hanna, well. She has always gotten everything I wanted before me."

Ezra was left sitting on the couch, unclear of where to take this conversation.

What could he say? 'Oh sorry my love, I think I accidentally knocked up your best friend while I was trying to self soothe since I couldn't get my seed to stick with you.' He wanted to smack himself for even thinking something so cruel, even if only to himself.

Ezra reached across their space and grabbed Aria's hand, gently, within his.

"Hanna needs our support."

Perhaps those were not the right words he should have chosen. Aria dropped his hand and pulled hers back in to her sleeve.

"Hanna needs to keep her space from me. I can't be happy for her right now." She pulled her legs up and tucked them within her arms. She lay her head down on top of her knees, facing away from Ezra.

"I have to go to work Aria, I'm running late. But...just give Hanna some space. Maybe you'll feel better after some time has passed."

"You didn't even say you were sorry. Not even your usual, 'We will be parents soon' speal. You don't even believe it's going to happen for us any more than I do."

Ezra picked up his brief case and walked out the front door without acknowledging what Aria had just said.

His heart was racing as he dialed Hanna's number once he was down the road in his car. His heart almost fell to his butt when he heard her voice on the other end instead of her voice mail.

"I need to see you."


	6. Chapter 5 - Make It Yours

_**[[HEY GUYS. YES, THIS IS STILL AN EZRIA STORY, IT JUST DOESN'T HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF FLUFF IN IT ... YET. BELIEVE ME, THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR ARIA AND EZRA...THEY JUST HAVE TO WORK FOR IT. REALLY REALLY WORK FOR IT.]]**_

Ezra was more than a little surprised when Hanna allowed him to come over to her place.

Ezra was more than a little sick to his stomach when she opened the door. His eyes didn't greet her face or even her chest, they zoomed straight down to what appeared to be a tiny bump she had tried to hide beneath a blazer.

Hanna crossed her arms uncomfortably, knowing exactly why he had come over.

"So she told you I suppose." Hanna spoke flatly.

"That can't be mine," Ezra hadn't meant to be so harsh but he his words burned Hanna's ears and his eyes were boring a hole through her center.

"I couldn't tell you that it isn't." Still no emotion within her voice.

Ezra's skin turned pale.

Hanna let her arms fall down to her sides dramatically and she turned to walk further in to her home.

"I knew I couldn't keep it a secret from you, but I wasn't actually planning on ever picking up the phone and telling you either." She was opening and shutting cupboards in her kitchen, aimlessly. Anything to fill the empty and awkward space that she was feeling between the two, scratch that, three of them.

Hanna still valued her friendship that she had built with Aria, even though it wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be. That wasn't due to the fact that she had been sleeping with Aria's husband, more so their lives had just changed and gone in different directions. Hanna was living a pretty well maintained life, like she always had, and Aria and Ezra had struggled to have what they had. To say there was a little jealousy would be putting it mildly. When Hanna showed up to their wedding wearing a dress that cost more than their entire reception, not to mention it outshone the brides dress, Aria had decided that it was time to cut the friendship at the knees. They really only ever phoned each other when something major happened in their life.

Having a baby was definitely major. Having a baby with your friends husband was definitely scandalous, a phone call you didn't want to make, and Hanna was contemplating on leaving town.

"You had said that you were wanting a separation from her, so I figured you had done it...since you usually get what you want." He could feel it. She was trying to build up an emotional wall between the two of them.

"So when I called to talk to Aria and I heard the shower running in the background, I knew you hadn't done it." Hanna twirled her bracelet around her wrist with her finger tips, a nervous habit she had possessed her whole life.

"I had planned on telling her everything. Telling her about you and I. How I was the one who initiated everything, I would tell her the honest story Ezra, no lies anymore. I wasn't sure how I was going to break it to her...with this...situation," she waved a hand over her mid-region, "but I was going to be honest about that too. But then, when you were still around...I couldn't."

Ezra felt relief flood over his body. He knew it would only last a moment or two, but he was savoring it while it lasted.

"Hanna. How do you know that it's mine?" Ezra asked through gritted teeth.

"Do you really think I'm the kind of skank who sleeps around with multiple guys? I'm the kind who just sleeps with married men." Her face burned in embarrassment. She was going to have to own up to her dirty secrets now. Within a month or so there would be no more hiding behind blazers. People would be asking who the father was.

She was longing for Ezra to touch her face, tell her it was okay, that he would be there for her. She knew that he wouldn't be jumping in excitement, but she had thought that he would have at least been a little emotionally supportive. I mean, after all, she didn't do this to herself.

"I didn't leave Aria because I thought that we were going to have a family together."

He felt broken. He was sure that Aria would turn up pregnant, he had just felt it. He wasn't lying about that. But, to no avail, she had once again come up with a negative test. Placing yet another hole in her heart.

This would rip her heart out and kill her. Ezra winced at the thought.

"Well, you don't have to be involved. You don't have to be in the picture or be around. But I will need help with my medical bills and some...legal stuff." Ezra interlaced his finger tips and then placed them over his eyes. Sliding them down over his mouth after a second.

"I can't give you money, Aria has been stashing away every spare penny she can find to save for IVF." His stomach dropped. Yet again, another reminder, adding insult to injury once more. His wife was struggling. She was willing to undergo grueling medical procedures to become a mother.

They had once thought that Ezra was the reason they could never conceive. Perhaps he was shooting 'blanks', he had thought. Apparently it wasn't him, yet another kick in the gut.

"I just need enough to pay for what my insurance doesn't cover. I'm not using it to build a lavish nursery or anything." Hanna placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head to look Ezra in the eyes.

"I'm not even keeping it, I mean...uh...I'm keeping it. But I'm not raising it."

His mouth went dry. Ezra was feeling a huge array of emotions. One moment he is a husband with a broke wife on the couch, the next he is expecting a baby with his ex-mistress, the third he is feeling his baby being ripped from his arms before it's even born...now he was feeling like the broken one.

"Don't you think we should make that decision together?" A lump formed within Hanna's throat. They had never done anything together that didn't involve a sheet behind Hanna's bedroom door.

"No. But I thought of something, it's probably really stupid and I'm sure I am going to have to go a different route but..." she cleared her throat, "You and Aria should adopt ou-my baby."

Hanna grabbed Ezra's hand and placed it over her belly button.

"It's ours...but we could make it _yours_ _."_


	7. Chapter 6 - And Then She Knew

Aria didn't go to work that day. She didn't shower, brush her teeth or hair. She didn't even change out of her frumpy clothes from the night before.

In the back of their house, in the most quiet and peaceful corner of their home, was an empty room with a window that overlooked a small maple tree that Ezra had given Aria for their first wedding anniversary.

"Your first anniversary gift is traditionally paper," Ezra explained while placing his hands over Aria's eyes and leading her out to the trailer he had borrowed, "but paper can rip or crinkle. A tree is strong. It doesn't bend in a storm," he lifted his hands from her eyes.

"Happy first anniversary Aria."

While it wasn't jewelry or flowers, Aria was moved by the thought that Ezra had put in to his gift. They spent two nights walking around their property and arguing over where they should pant it. Finally, Aria stopped in her tracks and looked up at their home.

Their new beautiful home with cream plastic siding and green shudders. Ezra had insisted that the shutters go, but Aria thought that they made the house look 'cute' and whined every time he talked about taking them down. From the spot Aria was standing in, you could see straight in to the last empty room in their home.

The couple had purposely left it vacant in hopes of turning it in to a nursery, someday. They had left the walls primer white and didn't carpet the old hard wood flooring. They ad taken the folding doors off of the closet and thrown them away.

"Do you know how dangerous these things are to little baby fingers?!" Aria had argued with Ezra. He could only shake his head.

Sounds echoed off the walls in the little room. Aria had tried to keep herself out until it was time to prepare it, so she wouldn't fill her head with sad memories of such a beautiful, pure and innocent space. But today she found herself standing at the window, staring out across their yard. The sun was starting to set and the maple tree was glowing in the orange and pinks.

Aria looked over her shoulder at the small box she had placed on the bottom shelf of the empty closet with no doors. She played with the cuffs of her hoodie as she tried to talk herself out of looking at the contents. She knew she would only upset herself more, but she couldn't resist. She found herself slowly gliding across the floor and gently folding herself down upon her knees. She tilted her head, biting her lips and reached in to the box.

The first item that she noticed was a tiny pair of white booties with a grey 'F', for Fitz, embroidered on the top of each one. She tucked her fingers in the tops of each one and gingerly pulled them out of the box. She hadn't seen these in years. Happy memories flooded back in to her mind and she smiled a little to herself while turning the booties around in circles in the palm of her hand.

They had been around through almost the entire duration of her marriage. Aria remembered how she had them custom made, as a gift for Ezra. The only time that she had ever truly believed that they were about to be parents. It was two months after their honeymoon and they weren't necessarily trying to start a family, but they also weren't trying to prevent it either. The two had been so busy that Aria had failed to notice that two months had come and gone without a period. She wasn't even sure what kind of signs she should be looking for, but she found herself wandering through the aisles of her local convenience store, searching for a pregnancy test.

It was exhilerating to place the box in her basket.

She was full of disbelief when she saw a sweet, bright plus-sign on the test that she had set beside her on their bathroom counter. She picked it up, with shaky hands, and brought it inches from her face to examine it more closely before she cradled it in her hands and placed it on her chest, over her heart.

Looking back on it now, Aria was quietly laughing to herself. What a strange reaction, to cuddle with your pregnancy test, especially considering what the test consisted of.

She found her eyes tearing up, causing her vision to blur. The little white booties looked like nothing more than little white blobs in her hands.

Once these booties were a gift given to her new husband, to declare their ascent in to parenthood. Now they were just a reminder of what she may never have.

She had wrapped them up in a small box with a bright yellow bow. Aria could hardly contain herself while waiting for Ezra to untie the ribbon and open the box.

"What's this?" he questioned over a plate of spaghetti, still twirling a noodle around his fork.

"Just open it, please, and pleeease do it fast!" Aria exclaimed, clasping her hands together and resting the right side of her face on them, staring at Ezra in adoration.

He grinned and grabbed the box from the center of the table with his right hand, tugging at the ends of the ribbon with his left.

He had been confused at first, but after Aria explained what they were for and what they meant he got up from his chair and half ran around the table to swoop her up in to his arms.

He had been just as excited as Aria was. She remembered how different that embrace felt. How he had looked at her in a new way.

Aria caught her breath when the rest of the memories from that time flooded in behind her eyes.

She had called and made an appointment with a local OBGYN. Aria counted down the days, with anticipation weighing heavily on her heart. The time finally came after weeks of waiting and she put careful thought in to getting ready that morning. A tight t-shirt to help accentuate her yet non-existant bump, and her favorite jeans. 'Might as well wear them while I can,' Aria thought to herself.

But her visit didn't go as planned.

Aria's test that she had taken at home had apparently been a false-positive.

She didn't even know that there was such a thing.

She recalled laying back on a cold table in a doctor's office, looking at a screen on a monitor in the dark that didn't have a baby on it.

Aria remembered feeling stupid. So stupid, for jumping the gun and telling Ezra before she had confirmed it. Now she had to find a way to un-tell him.

That was all so long ago, yet it was a wound that had just never healed in Aria's heart. She thought that she could get over it, that it really wouldn't bother her that much. But when they did start making real attempts at having a baby and nothing was happening, she was always reminded of this moment. She was never sure why it hurt so badly, it wasn't like she had lost a baby. She had just thought a baby existed, when really there was nothing at all.

When Ezra walked through the front door later that night, the entire house was dark except for a dim light peeking out from under the door of the empty room at te end of the hallway. He lightly tapped on the door frame as he slowly cracked opened the door. Aria didn't move from where she lay on the wooden floor, eyes fixated upon a blank spot on the ceiling.

Ezra didn't say a word, he just stood in the doorway looking at Aria.

She had spread the blanket he purchased from the boutique in the city out on the floor and placed her head and shoulders on it, rubbing her left cheek with the corner. She still had the booties nestled in her right hand.

She looked beautiful in a new way to Ezra. She still looked broken, but now she also looked vulnerable. In this moment, she truly needed him.

But Aria knew that Ezra didn't just belong to her any longer. Her inner suspicions had been confirmed by his reaction to the news she broke to him this morning.

Aria knew Ezra was staring at her, and for the first time in her life it didn't make her heart beat a little faster.

"Did you go to Hanna's today?" She lifted her eyes from the ceiling to place them upon Ezra's face, which the color was quickly draining from.

He dropped his brief case to the floor and tried to regain his composure.

"I'm sure that you two needed to talk."

Ezra placed all of his weight against the door frame, attempting to regain his composure.

Attempting to gain his composure, to begin putting the pieces of his life back together.


	8. Chapter 7 - Just Listen

"I can explain."

Aria tucked her chin down into the bottom of her neck and tried not to choke on what Ezra was beginning to say. Before she knew it, Aria found herself sitting up to see Ezra better. If he was going to try and explain himself she wanted to make sure she could hear him, and see him, clearly.

"Wrong answer." She said simply. Her words contained no anger, no sadness, no emotion at all.

'Wrong answer' bounced around hauntingly in Ezra's head. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to say. He didn't know when he should say it. So he stood, with his shoulder pressed against the door frame, waiting to take a cue from Aria.

"Why do you lie to me, Ezra?" Her bottom lip began to quiver, but she pushed firmly on it with her upper, and internally summoned it to stop. She finally had the upper hand, she had been waiting for this moment since the morning she saw his phone laying on the bathroom counter.

She didn't give him a chance to answer though.

Aria found herself on her feet now, arms crossed, starting to walk the perimeter of the room.

"I always wanted to paint these walls a really beautiful shade of yellow. That way, when the sun peeked in between the cracks in the curtains in the morning, that baby's room would just glow." She was starting to talk with her hands now.

"The sunbeams would warm the wood floor in the afternoons and we could put blankets on them for the baby to play on. First we'd do tummy time, and then we would learn to crawl. And eventually this room would only be for sleeping because once they learned to walk the rest of the house would be fair game."

Aria stopped in the middle of the room, and stared out the window at the maple tree again.

"I have always imagined you, holding him or her right in front of this window. Reading them stories at bed time. You two would look so angelic, with the moon's light shining behind you...making your hair glow. Bouncing off of your cheeks," She turned and walked over to Ezra and lightly ran her fingertips over his cheeks.

"But we don't get to have that anymore."

Without realizing what she was doing, Aria raised a hand and threw it across Ezra's face.

She hit him. She had never hit him, or even dreamed of hitting him, the entire time she had known him.

Not thinking, she raised her hand and hit him again.

Before she knew it she began sobbing, and shoved past him to leave the empty nursery.

Ezra stood alone and stunned. He knew he deserved it. But he had never seen Aria so upset before, and knowing her couldn't chase behind her and help made the sting in his face feel worse.

Aria was yelling now, from across the hallway.

"You can pack up your things and just go be with her Ezra. You have made a mockery of our marriage, " she wiped at her eyes and tried her best to regain her composure, to no avail, "I can't even believe you would come back in to our home after what you did to me."

Aria finally broke.

Ezra had thought she had been broken for years, but she was only cracked. Everything could have been healed, sewed back up. But a love child with your ex-mistress, who used to be your wife's best friend doesn't make for easy living.

He heard her breathing shallow and quickly, the sobs getting stuck and then exploding out of her throat. He knew she was having a panic attack and he left where he stood in the door way and quickly found his way in to their room. She had sunk to the floor, sitting with her back up against the frame of their bed.

She screamed for Ezra to get away from her.

"Just LEAVE. Leave me ALONE Ezra." She threw her hands at him to push him away from her, but Ezra forced her in to his arms, wrapping them tightly around her shoulders.

Aria's body was tired. It was tired of crying. Tired of pushing him away. Tired of feeling empty.

She sat stiffly sobbing in to Ezra's shoulders for a moment. He had buried his face in to her shoulder as well, eyes open staring at the bedroom wall.

'What have I done?' was all he could manage to process in his mind.

Aria calmed herself enough to regain some of the fight that was left in her, and she quickly began shoving Ezra away again.

She stood up and grabbed his duffle bag from the bottom of their closet. Aria started filling it up with things. Not caring if they matched, went together or were appropriate for the days ahead. After it was filled she zipped it shut and set it on his lap and walked out of the room.

Ezra's chest tightened, and his throat felt like it was swelling closed.

Tears streamed down his cheek and fell on to the duffle bag, tear drops turning parts of the the bag a darker shade of blue. He had nowhere to go. His mother hadn't spoken to him in at least a half dozen years, his brother was studying abroad, he had no other family.

He had alienated himself from everyone else.

Aria was all that he had.

Staying with Hanna crossed his mind for a moment, but he blinked and the idea was gone.

'Not the best place for her to find me...' Ezra thought to himself.

His concentration was shattered when Aria stormed back in to the room and stood in front of him, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot every few seconds, chewing on her sleeve in rage.

"In case you have forgotten what it means to have a packed bag, it means get out. I need you to get out."

Ezra looked at her, shocked.

"I SAID GET OUT."

Her voice broke and tears slid down her cheeks once more, but there were no sobs. No treacherous sounds of pain escaping from her throat.

She saved those for when Ezra was gone. She followed him to the front door and slammed it, hard, behind him as he found himself on the front porch. Aria slid her back down the door and cried like she had never cried in her life.

Ezra placed his palm flat against the cold door and just listened.

All he could do was listen.


	9. Chapter 8 - A Woman Scorned

The next morning Aria awoke with a purpose. She was indeed exhausted and her eyes were still an interesting shade of red. She had tossed and turned for hours before finally falling asleep just a few hours before the sun was going to start peeking through the clouds.

As Aria was popping a K-cup in to her coffee maker she pulled out her cell phone and credit card and dialed the number on the back.

"Hi! I need to report a card as being stolen."

Her voice was overly perky, especially for someone who had supposedly just had their credit card taken. Several minutes, and security questions later, Aria placed her cell phone down on the counter and gae herself a small devious smile in the reflection of the microwave.

Aria had just had Ezra's joint credit card cancelled, leaving him with nothing but whatever cash he happened to have in his wallet. Because she had reported it stolen the bank wouldn't be contacting him to let him know. He was just going to have to try and use it to find out.

Ezra hadn't left their home that night. He had nowhere to go and didn't want to stay in a hotel. He already felt disgusting, and staying in a cheap hotel would only add to the feeling of filth. Also, he wasn't comfortable leaving with Aria being as upset as she was. He had decided to set up camp in the backseat. Ezra longingly stared at the front door and in to the windows, hoping that Aria would see him cramped in the backset and invite him back inside. But if she saw him lying in the backseat of his car, she never caved and invited him back inside.

'So this is kind of what it's like to get evicted...' he thought to himself.

Ezra got out of the backseat and climbed in to the front, flipping down the visor and running his hands through his knotted, curly hair. He made a mental note that he really needed to get a more maintainable style, for times like these when he had no place to shower-or use the restroom. With that thought he gave one last longing look at their front door before starting his car, backing it out of the driveway and on to the street.

Aria had just finished drying her hair after her shower and she found herself standing in front of her closet. She knew what dress she was looking for. It was ivory and silk, it fell to a few inches above her knee with a Peter Pan collar covered in tiny pearls and a keyhole back. Slightly dressy for everyday wear, but perfect for today's occasion. She vividly remembered finding it on their bed the morning of their wedding rehearsal. Ezra had picked it out and purchased it for her as a surprise, something beautiful and new to wear that night. He had wanted to be traditional about their wedding, and had waited to see her actual dress until her walk down the aisle to him. But he had been, almost, even more excited to see Aria wearing his dress.

She found it eventually shoved towards the back of the closet and slipped it on over her head. She had thought that putting it on might hurt, not literally, but cause an aching in her heart. She was surprised when she didn't feel a thing as she stretched her hands behind her neck to slip the button through the elastic hole.

Meanwhile, Ezra had stopped to use the restroom, brush his teeth and get a coffee at the local brew house down the street.

"What do you mean my card is declined? Can you just try it again?" His face was starting to burn pink.

"Sir, we have already tried to swipe it three times." The barista handed it back to him over the counter, sliding the coffee off to the side away from Ezra.

"I've got it." A blonde stepped up and slid her card in place of Ezra's.

Ezra recognized her voice and lowered his, "What are you doing here?"

"I am allowed to mingle with society," Hanna retorted sourly.

"You're not supposed to be drinking coffee it's bad for the ba-" She placed a finger over his lips, and he couldn't help but think of what an 'Aria' thing that was for Hanna to do.

"It's decaf." She grabbed her cup off the counter and turned to leave when Ezra desperately grabbed her purse strap on her shoulder.

"Aria threw me out. She knows."

Hanna cleared her throat and glanced over both shoulders, before looking back at Ezra.

"Are you talking to me? Because I am the last person you want to get caught having morning coffee with."

He exhaled loudly, clearly frustrated.

"I slept in my car last night Hanna. My CAR. She packed me a bag that has nothing but socks and sweat pants in it and then locked me out of my own house."

Hanna didn't know what to say, or even where to look. She really wanted to be there for him, but she knew that whatever Aria would eventually do to her would likely be worse. But Aria's rage aside, minus the fact that her boobs were turning to boulders, and she was wrestling with the inner turmoil about the paternity of her unborn baby, she had slept just fine in her very own bed last night.

"I don't know what you want me to say."

She tucked a piece of long blond hair behind her ear and chewed on the inside of her bottom lip.

Aria had gone through painstaking steps to tie the most perfect bow around the gift she had just wrapped. It looked very 'Martha Stewart' and she wished she could give herself a literal pat on the back, because she deserved it. As she sat on her bed to slip her heels on she picked up her phone and sent a text.

'Be at your place in 15 min! Can't wait to catch up!'

She then called her studio and told them she wouldn't be in today either. She was not only glad that she was the owner, but that she had hired the extra person for editing when she did. They were going to be clocking a lot of overtime this week.

Hanna choked on her coffee when the message came up on her phone.

"Aria is coming over to my place this morning, did you know?!" She accused Ezra while throwing her phone in to her purse and standing up in a rush, causing Ezra's coffee to tip.

"I haven't seen her since she slammed a door in my face Hanna, remember." He grabbed a napkin to clean up the spill.

"Did she uh-did she happen to say anything about me in that message?"

Hanna threw the strap to her purse over her shoulder, ignoring Ezra's preying eyes and mind.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Talk about the worst idea ever, Ezra."

Aria was knocking on Hanna's door a half an hour later. Running late like usual. Hanna stood behind the door, pep-talking herself. She was hoping that Aria would be more understanding with her than she had been with her husband. Aria watched the knob turning and plastered a fake, bright smile across her face.

"Hanna, Hi!" She reached across the threshold and gave Hanna a tight hug.

"Look at your cheeks, you're glowing!" Aria fake laughed just the tiniest bit and walked past Hanna and in to her home, without waiting to be invited inside. Hanna shut the door and quickly followed behind her.

She stopped in the kitchen and turned on her heels to face Hanna, startling her.

"I brought you a gift." Aria smiled with her teeth. She never did that, and it caught Hanna off guard and sent goosebumps up her arms. Aria reached out and grabbed Hanna's hands, placing the package in them herself.

"Open it silly!" Aria clasped her hands in front of her in anticipation.

Hanna was still yet to say a word. Her stomach was churning and her face was turning pink with embarrassment. She tugged at the bow and slid the lid off.

Tucked in between pieces of paper were the 'F' booties and the boutique blanket.

"Since you're pregnant with my husband's baby, I thought you should have these!" Aria's tone sent more goosebumps up Hanna's arms.

"I also wrote your wee little baby a note, apologizing to it that it was conceived during a very tasteless affair. That it's very own mother used to brush my hair at sleepovers and then she moved on to having sleepovers with my husband." Aria reached across and gave Hanna's stomach a small rub.

Hanna set the box on the counter without looking at it's contents.

"Oh, what's wrong Han? You didn't even finish opening my gift."

Aria strode the to counter and took the items out of the box one by one.

"Cute little monogrammed booties for Baby Fitz, and a beautiful blanket."

She kept the tooth grin plastered across her face for show.

"You do know Hanna, it's rude to get knocked up by someone else's husband and then not say thank you when their wife brings you such a thoughtful gift." Aria's voice was almost sing-song.

"Why are you wearing that?" Hanna questioned Aria, trying to change the subject to something less damaging.

"Oh, this little thing?" Aria tugged at the skirt, then flattened it down with her palms.

"I wanted to see if you remembered what this was from. I mean, clearly you had forgotten that Ezra bought this for me to wear the night before our wedding." Aria purposely let her smile drop from her face, and found herself within inches of Hanna's.

Her lips barely moved as she gave her parting statement before she quietly turned around and let herself out.

"Ezra doesn't love you Hanna. Ezra loves me. It's always been and aways will be me. He was just using you for a cheap thrill, because it was easy and he could," Hanna winced and looked away from Aria. Aria quickly noticed and grabbed Hanna's face between her index finger and thumb of her right hand.

"I feel sorry for you, because now not only are you known as the town slut. You're stuck being a single mom with an illegitimate baby, too."

Hanna breathed in hard, trying to hold back not only her humiliation but also her fear. She had never seen Aria act, or heard her talk like that, in the whole decade she had been friends with her. She took a seat at a barstool that was next to her counter and let her head rest on the cold granite.

Hanna knew she didn't just get anything that she didn't deserve.


	10. Chapter 9 - How Quickly We Forget

**[[You are all seriously awesome. I have been LOVING all of the feedback this story has been getting! You have also given me some great ideas on where I should take it. I am always open to ideas and suggestions since I don't plan my stories out farther than 1 chapter in advance. Thank you for taking the time to read and review! Oh, and remember, Ezra is a male...therefore he can't ALWAYS be a sweet heart ;) but he does get his moments here and there and who knows what the future holds in store for Ezrai!]]**

A week had passed and Aria still hadn't allowed Ezra to come home. Every night he parked his car in the driveway after going out for dinner alone, and every night Aria closed every curtain and turned her cell phone on silent. She did feel a little guilty about canceling his credit card so she withdrew some money from his account and placed it in an envelope under the windshield wipers one morning while she was leaving, and Ezra was still sleeping.

Ezra felt like he was in some sort of demented purgatory. He returned home every night, but was never allowed inside. He was forced to watch his wife carrying on without him from the backseat. He didn't dare call or text Hanna, or far worse...stop by her house, if he had any hope at reconciling with Aria he needed to keep that door shut. He would stay at work as long as he could, then usually stop and eat dinner somewhere inexpensive that had wi-fi, surfing the internet until he started to get drowsy. Yet at the end of the night he always found himself back in the driveway.

He figured he would get a hotel room as soon as the bank sent him a new credit card, but they said it could take up to two weeks to arrive in the mail. That's fourteen long days of sleeping in the fetal position with a seatbelt crammed in to your back. But as the saying goes, Ezra made his bed and he knew he needed to sleep in it.

Things had gotten weird between the girls over the past week. Spencer and Emily weren't answering calls or messages from Aria. She figured that Hanna had gotten to them first and given her side of the story. She couldn't imagine how they could side with Hanna, especially if she had been honest and told them who the father was. Yet again, maybe she had been and they just didn't know what to say so they thought it would be best just not to say anything at all.

Aria had a lot of time to think, a LOT of time...She had spent an entire night crying over their wedding album.

That had been the most perfect day she could have imagined. The wedding was small, everything was lace and pearls. Just how she had envisioned it. Her bridesmaids wore halos of flowers around their heads and carried bouquets of flowers made out of book pages instead of real flowers. Ezra wore a navy blue suit, while all the groomsmen wore khakis and a navy suit jacket. Aria's gown was pure lace with cap sleeves and an open back. It was fuller at the bottom with just a little bit of crinoline peeking out around the edges and hung to her feet.

There were pictures of Spencer and Toby together, Emily catching the bouquet and Hanna giving her Maid of Honor speech. She shut the album for a minute after stumbling upon the picture of Hanna, and then reopened it. She wondered to herself what had gone so wrong, in the grand scheme of things. How did they all end up here? Aria, in a big empty house crying over snap shots ... all alone. Ezra, at the Burger King around the corner eating french fries and sucking up the free wifi... all alone. And Hanna, at home planning out how to live her life with a new baby on the way... all alone.

 _"Okay, okay guys. So, incase you don't know me my name is Hanna Marin and Aria and I have been best friends for about a half a dozen years. I consider her to be more than my best friend actually...Aria is like the sister that I never had, and never knew that I wanted. I remember back when we were just freshmen in high school and Aria was going through this really weird stage. Her hair was pink, she had spikes on her bracelets, she wore Doc Martens which we all know when out with the 90s...anyway...I remember looking at her and thinking that she would make it. She knew who she was, and that is who she allowed herself to be. And even if it didn't conform to the norms, she did it anyway. Her relationship with Ezra is not the norm. They met in high school...literally, and they have been together ever since. It's rare that you find a couple who is so completely devoted to one another. What you two have here is something so special and so beautiful and we could all only wish to be as lucky in love as you both are. My wish for you both is that you stay exactly as you are; Ezra...a nerdy writer who loves to watch boring movies and stay home too much. And Aria...a beautiful soul with so much talent and passion for what you love that it literally annoy me sometimes. So, to wrap this all up I will leave the two of you with a quote that I found while browsing around Pinterest trying to copy other people's Maid of Honor speeches, because let's be honest, I'm not a very great speech writer...'He loved her, of course. But better than that, he chose her. Day after day. Choice: That was the thing.'"_

Aria could still hear Hanna's Maid of Honor speech echoing around in her mind when she looked at the photos. In true Hanna fashion she had gone on little tangents here and there, but the overall message she tried to convey was beautiful and Aria couldn't have imagined a more perfect send off to marital bliss.

Hanna had gone to her very first OB appointment by herself. She had no one to bring. Spencer and Emily weren't talking to her, she was sure that they had sided with Aria about this situation, and Ezra had been dodging her as well. The table that they told her to sit up on and wait for the doctor was cold. The posters that hung around the room advertised different forms of birth control. Hanna thought to herself that if she had seen them sooner she wouldn't be sitting here in this situation. The images of various stages of child birth that hung next to the birth control posters would have sealed that deal real quick.

A knock came on the door.

"Hi Hanna, I'm Dr. Wiliam," he reached out to shake her hand.

"From the urine sample we collected we can confirm your pregnancy, and from the dates that you gave us of your last ovulation you're actually a little farther along than you had expected. Right around four months." Hanna's jaw dropped.

Four months.

"Let's just take a little listen her and see if we can pick up a heart beat...I'll have you lean back and lift your shirt up for me."

The Dr. placed a cool gel on Hanna's skin and then wiggled a doppler around on her belly for several minutes before finally finding the heart beat. Hanna and the Dr. listened to the thumping sound for a minute or so before he wiped off her stomach and told her she could sit back up.

"Now...since you are so far along we will need to hurry your blood work along so we can check for any sort of abnormalities, but you are far enough that we can see gender now too."

Hanna was shocked.

She had thought she was only two months max. She hadn't even given it any thought to whether she would be having a girl or a boy.

"Uh...okay."

"When would you like to schedule that? We could get you in as early as tomorrow morning."

Hanna's eyes widened and she pulled her hair around the back of her neck to lay over her left shoulder.

"Okay...Okay yea. I can do tomorrow morning."

As she was walking out, she tried to do the calculations in her mind. Four months along, that meant she was about sixteen weeks...sixteen weeks ago was Christmas. She had spent a beautiful, albeit unexpected Christmas with Caleb.

Her heart jumped in to her throat.

She had practically forgotten. She hadn't spent any significant amount of time with Caleb in years, but he came back in to town over the holidays to visit since his Mom had passed away several years ago. He had spent time traveling the world, but came home to Rosewood for the holidays at long last.

And although Ezra was married, and Hanna was his mistress, she felt as if she had cheated when she let it slip with Caleb. She had tried her hardest to block it out of her mind, and had been successful seeing as she had never put two-and-two together that this baby could be Caleb's baby.

Maybe she hadn't ruined everything after all.


	11. Chapter 10 - Let's Talk It Out

Hanna had been keeping her suspicions a secret to herself for several weeks. She had no idea where Caleb was now. He had simply come home or the holidays and then, poof, he disappeared again. Who knew how long it would be before he resurfaced on his own. It could be years. And according to the OB Hanna only had about five more months before she popped, herself.

She was feeling a little guilty though. Everyone was walking on egg shells around her. People were avoiding her, whispering about her when she walked by. She had seen Aria all over the place, probably more so now than she ever had before, and awkwardness got worse and worse with every run in. Hanna would look glance at Aria with pleading eyes, and Aria would simply pretend not to notice her and go about her business. Hanna wanted to ask her how she was, if she was okay, if her marriage was going to survive...even though she knew it was none of her business. Aria would never believe that Hanna really cared, when Hanna had cared little enough to let the affair begin in the first place.

 _"I shouldn't be doing this right now," Ezra stared through the windshield of Hanna's car and gripped his hands around the edges of his seat._

 _"You shouldn't...but you are..." Hanna teased, tipping her head to the side in Ezra's direction. Her blonde waves fell over her shoulder and tickled Ezra's arm._

 _"Why did you show up here?" He questioned her._

 _"Why did you get in my car?" She questioned him back._

 _Then there they both sat, silent._

 _Hiding in the darkness of a parked car was all too familiar to Ezra. He could clearly remember all of the times that he would pick Aria up off of the street and they would drive around in the dark, talking aimlessly for hours, not wanting to go anywhere particular, just wanting to be together._

 _This didn't feel like it had with Aria though._

 _With Aria it meant something. It was exciting. It served a purpose. They could actually be together._

 _With Hanna, it felt dirty. He felt the need to duck his head down under the window so no one would see him with her._

 _Hanna turned the car on and put it in drive, guiding the car out of the parking lot and on to the road._

 _"Uh Hanna...I have dinner reservations for Aria and I at 7:30 and it's already 6:45 I really can't go anywhere with you right now."_

 _Yet she ignored him._

 _And Ezra ignored Aria's phone calls and text messages that night as well._

 _When he finally came in the door around 9:00 that night Aria was already in bed asleep, and he was glad._

 _He needed time to think of what he should tell her. He needed time to think of a great excuse._

Practically a month had gone by and Aria was no closer to letting Ezra back in their home than the night she pushed him to the driveway. He had gotten his credit card in the mail finally and had been staying at the cheapest hotel he could find, which still wasn't very cheap. He was starting to give up hope about ever being welcomed back in to their home and he needed to know whether he should find a new, permanent, living arrangement. He had desperately tried to contact Aria, but she was still dodging all of his texts and phone calls.

But Ezra was getting more than desperate. It was starting to make him feel hopeless. Not having a place to call home. Not speaking to his wife. Living out of a duffel bag.

He got up early on a Thursday morning and he parked his car in the driveway before sunrise. He didn't want to take a chance and miss her. He rolled down the windows, cut the power to the engine, and waited. Finally, three hours later, Ezra finally saw Aria walking out of the front door. She saw Ezra's car in the driveway but pretended not to as she turned around to put the key in the door and lock it. When she heard a car door open and shut she knew that she wasn't going to be able to avoid him this time. He had finally trapped her, and they were going to have to talk.

"Good morning," Ezra strolled up the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.

"Morning." Aria's arms were crossed over her head, one hand holding her purse, the other holding a coffee.

"I stopped and got you a coffee but I uh...I drank it already. I've been waiting for quite awhile..." He stopped several steps in front of Aria and uneasily looked in to her eyes.

"I really need to talk to you Aria."

"What is there to talk about?"

He couldn't believe that she could really think it was all that easy. That she could just shoo him out of her life, cut him off from everything that he had worked equally as hard for, and just assume that he would accept it and walk away.

"Aria, you know what we need to discuss. I'm living out of a hotel room that costs me $99 a night. I...We...are going to go broke."

She was silent, still.

"I'm not ready for you to come back home."

Her words sent chills down Ezra's back. He had been hoping that she would invite him inside, she would maybe offer him a warm cup of coffee, and they could talk about how they were feeling. Ezra would apologize, Aria would apologize for making him sleep in his car for so long and then take up residency in a cheap room, and then things would be back to how they were before.

He had hoped.

But Aria's eyes were dark and cold and her arms were still crossed. Her words were distant and she had given no signs at all of any sympathy at all.

"I'm surprised you aren't staying at Hanna's. She probably needs advice picking out paint for the nursery."

A cheap shot. Ezra couldn't believe that Aria was giving him cheap shots right now when he was standing in front of her, practically pleading to come home.

"What I did to you," he stopped, "To our marriage... it wasn't right, Aria. And I can't take it back."

He stepped forward and attempted to take Aria's hands in his, but she pulled away and stepped back. Still not looking him in the face.

He let his hands drop back down, returning them to his pockets. Ezra cleared his throat and started over again.

"We deserve to give this another chance. I haven't talked to Hanna in weeks, Aria. I could have easily called her and asked to sleep on her couch, but I would have rather slept in a ditch than gone back there again. I would do anything for you to let me come home."

Normally an Ezra apology made Aria's heart flutter, but this morning it fell flat. She felt nothing but hurt and anger when he opened his mouth. She felt sick to her stomach when she finally looked up and made eye contact.

"I wanted nothing more than to have a beautiful family with you and be the kind of wife that you would never step out on, but we don't always get everything the way we want, Ezra." She tried to step past and around him to walk down the sidewalk to her car, but he grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"You're still my wife Aria. We can still have that family."

"Oh yea. How's that going to work? Is Hanna going to teach her baby to call me Stepmommy?" She shot Ezra a cold look and tried to pull away, but he just tightened his grip.

"Hanna has been avoiding me Aria. Something isn't right. If this baby was really mine, don't you think she would be wanting my support? Asking me to come to doctor appointments or something?"

The thought of Ezra sitting in a doctor's office with someone else made her stomach convulse. She had wanted that for so long, and here they were. Ezra was half-confessing that he was feeling left out because Hanna hadn't been inviting him along with her.

"Let me go Ezra." Aria demanded through gritted teeth.

"I can't do that Aria. Not when I have you here. We need to talk."

They were both silent for a moment, neither one knowing what their next move should be.

Aria knew they needed to talk, and she had been wanting to talk to Ezra. But what she had to say to him she knew he didn't want to hear, and she didn't want to say it. So she had been trying to hold it in and avoid him. Hoping that maybe something would happen to make her change her mind.

She was startled from her own thoughts when she heard Ezra's jagged breathing and saw him rubbing his finger and thumb over his eyes.

He was crying, actually crying.

He hadn't cried in front of her before, that she could remember. Not any of the numerous times they broke up, or got back together. He had always managed to keep a stone face through moments like that, locking his emotions away to himself.

His tears softened Aria's cold demeanor, just slightly, and she placed her hand on his lower back in a friendly manner.

"We do need to talk Ezra. But right now isn't the time." With that Aria couldn't believe it, but she found herself walking away from him. Leaving him alone, in front of the house they once shared, in tears. She could hardly remember a time before where they wouldn't have both found a way to make time to hash out the conversation then and there. Not that it didn't matter enough to her at this moment to do the same, she just hadn't planned out her next move, and she needed more time for that.

In Ezra's heart he couldn't believe that Aria was just leaving him there. In is mind he knew he deserved it. He climbed back in to his car and watched in his rearview mirror as Aria got in hers as well and backed in to the street.

Hanna had known for three weeks now that she was having a little girl.

She had cried during her ultra sound. The baby had the hiccups, sucked her thumb and was more than compliant with the ultra sound tech when it came time to check for gender. The tech had asked Hanna if she had any special plans to reveal the gender to herself or if she just wanted to know now.

"No...no special plans, you can just tell me."

"It's a girl."

Hanna wiped tears away from her eyes and smiled at the screen.

Her own little mini me.

She tried to picture what she would look like, only to rekindle her constant inner battle.

If she were Ezra's she would undoubtedly have dark curly hair like him. She would have blue eyes, hopefully shaped like hers, she thought to herself, and she would be blessed with gorgeous, big, white teeth.

If she were Caleb's she would still have dark hair, but would it be straight like his or wavy like hers? Would she have brown eyes or blue eyes? Thin lips or fuller?

She needed to stop tormenting herself like this. She was having a baby girl, and that was all that was important.

When she got in the car she had dialed Ezra's number half a dozen times and hung up before the first ring. He deserved to know, yet she felt he didn't need to know. What if he was working on repairing things with Aria. She didn't want to get in the way, again.

Somewhere in all of this mess, Hanna was starting to develop a bit of a conscience. It was becoming easier for her to try and put others before herself.

'Maybe that's my maternal instinct kicking in already...' she thought to herself.

That same Thursday evening, while Hanna was watching The Bachelorette and gorging herself with a pint of Half Baked ice cream, she felt her phone buzzing in her back pocket. When she pulled it out Ezra's face and number were glowing on the screen. She held it in her hands for several seconds just staring at the screen. Finally she put her spoon back in the ice cream and sheepishly answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Hanna. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"How's the baby?"

"Did you just call me to make awkward small talk?"

"Can I come over?"

She caught her words in her throat. Did he really just call her, to ask to come over?

"Why would you want to do that?"

"We need to clear some things up."

She swallowed hard.

"Uh, yea ... okay. I'm just watching TV so whenever you want to stop by is okay..."

"Okay, thanks Hanna."

"Wait...Ezra. Does Aria know that you're coming over?"

"That's part of the reason I'm coming over."


	12. Chapter 11 - I Just Need You Now

**[[Because you guys are so fabulous and leave me awesome reviews, here is a second chapter for you all to read tonight! I have been trying to figure out the best way to incorporate the Hanna/Ezra flashbacks since they have been so requested! Please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, you all give me so much encouragement to keep adding to this story, and I love it!]]**

 _"You have to let me see this rock."_

 _"Hanna, it's not even a rock. It's ... simple."_

 _Hanna rolled her eyes at Aria as she crunched on another Dorito and grabbed at her hand. Aria had been feeling modest about her engagement, trying not to brag and rub it in everyone else's face. She was the first one, and so far the only one, to get engaged out of the four girls and she wasn't trying to be a showboat about it. Hanna had thought that she would be the first one to walk down the aisle with Caleb. She was so certain that he was going to pop the question the minute that they graduated high school. And then he didn't. And then he didn't pop the question after they were well in to college, and then he just never did. They faded apart and eventually broke up. Destroying the plans that Hanna had already concocted in her head._

 _"Simple is better. You would rather be understated and sophisticated than forever be known as the girl with the gaudy ring that looks like it came from Claire's" Spencer insisted._

 _Hanna turned Aria's left ring finger from side to side, observing the different facets of the ring in the sunlight._

 _"It is simple Aria, but it's beautiful."_

 _It really was beautiful. It was not Hanna's style, but for Aria it was perfect._

 _Ezra didn't go to Tiffany's, like Hanna had always dreamed of for herself. After cutting ties with his family's money long ago, Tiffany's just wasn't in the budget. Actually, not much of anything was in the budget. But he had been saving here and there for quite awhile, and he was going to find something for Aria that he was sure she would love._

 _"I love it Aria," Emily chimed in, "And you can totally add on to it as you hit milestones. Like, when you get married you get the wedding band. And then don't they make like...enhancers that can go around it?"_

 _Ezra had picked a simple solitaire diamond. It was a half carat, princess cut diamond in a rose gold setting. Classic, yet sophisticated. At the time Aria hadn't been so sure how she felt about the rose gold but it was starting to grow on her now. It was different and unique, just like their relationship._

 _Hanna wanted so badly to be happy for Aria, but it's hard to be happy for someone when you are miserable yourself._

Hanna sat like a stone on her couch, waiting for the knock at the door. Her bump had plumped up a noticeable amount since the last time she had seen Ezra, and she wasn't sure what his reaction would be. She also wasn't sure what she wanted his reaction to be. The thought of calling Caleb and placing him on speaker phone so the three of them could all talk together at once flashed through her mind, and as quickly as the idea came it went.

'What a stupid idea Hanna. What a great way to spring on someone that they might be a dad when they don't even know you're pregnant...' Hanna thought to herself. Just then she heard three knocks on the door. Ezra always knocked three times. But before she could get up to answer it, he let himself in. She was surprised. It had been a long time since Ezra just let himself in.

 _"So...you have to tell us. We have been absolutely dying to know...how did he ask!?" Spencer begged Aria to finally reveal the details of Ezra's proposal._

 _"Yea Aria, Ezra is so romantic. I bet he copied some really sappy way that he read in a book or something," Emily said while munching away on some popcorn._

 _Hanna sat quiet, still working away at her bag of Doritos. She really didn't care how Ezra proposed to Aria. Why did everyone always want to know the details? Couldn't we all just pretend to love her ring, and then move on with our lives?_

 _Aria laughed at Emily._

 _"Actually, it really wasn't romantic at all. I mean...I think that he meant for it to be romantic, but he screwed it up really bad." Aria sat up on her knees and started laughing, remembering the story, and twirling her ring around her finger._

 _"Okay...so apparently Ezra has a pinterest, I mean...I would have never thought he had a pinterest account but he does. And he even has this cute little board with all of these creative and interesting ways to propose to someone. And he had been searching forever, pinning his little heart away to try and find the best one I guess. Well without thinking about it he let me use his laptop and when I went to pull up my pinterest his popped up, right to the board that he had been pinning on," Aria stopped to take a bite out of a twizzler, "And of course I'm nosy so I started clicking through it. When he saw what I was looking at his face turned pink and he slammed the lap top shut and tried to play it off like it was no big deal. But when I came out of the bathroom awhile later there he was ... down on a knee at the foot of his bed holding a ring box. In just his boxers. Because we were getting ready to go to bed. He said he just couldn't wait anymore since he knew that I knew that he was thinking about it." Aria laughed some more and leaned back against the couch._

 _'What a stupid story,' Hanna thought to herself._

 _'Caleb would have done something so much more romantic like... at least given me some flowers or taken me on a weekend vacation. Proposing in your boxers? Gross.' Hanna was lost in a conversation with her inner self when Spencer noticed the faces she was making and elbowed her, knocking her out of her zone._

Ezra sat down on the foot stool to Hanna's chair, directly across from her. Hands on his knees, finger tips tapping together. He obviously came here to talk about something serious. No canoodling.

He waited what felt like ages to Hanna, to finally break the silence.

"Why haven't you invited me to any doctor appointments?" He froze his fingers and locked his eyes on hers.

"Because I didn't need to. I don't need you to hold my hand through this." Hanna was disappointed. She didn't know what to expect from this conversation but having to defend herself wasn't what she had been hoping for.

"You don't think that I have a right to know what's going on with you, and my baby?"

The words were poking at Hanna's heart. She knew that if she wanted to do the right thing, she should tell him everything that she knows. Yet, what she did next surprised the both of them.

Hanna quickly grabbed Ezra's hands, leaned in and gave him a long, deep kiss.

When she pulled away she gave him a slowly growing smile.

"It's a girl."

Ezra sat in stunned silence. Had he kissed Hanna back? He couldn't remember, his mind was racing trying to figure out what was happening on her end too much to worry about how he was reciprocating. And what had Hanna just said. A girl? As in, hair bows and piggy tails for the rest of his life?

 _Aria and Ezra had decided to make their engagement short. They had waited long enough to be a couple that society would accept. Now they just wanted to be a normal, married couple._

 _"I want it to be really bohemian-chic... like, no shoes...lots of lace...flowers in everyones hair." Aria was flipping through a bridal magazine and bouncing ideas off of Hanna._

 _"So basically you want it to look like a 70s rave." Hanna retorted flatly._

 _"I guess that's one way to see it," Aria flipped a page, "but obviously way more glamourous...and no pot."_

 _Hanna sighed. She wanted to tell Aria that she didn't want to be in her wedding. That she didn't even want to go to her wedding. It was killing her to see Aria living out what should have been Hanna's dream. Not that she wanted to marry Ezra, but she just wanted to be married period._

 _The stability of marital bliss. Your husband vows to spend his lifetime loving you. And everyone showers you in gifts and compliments because of it. Not a bad gig at all._

"A girl...wow." Ezra took a deep breath.

"Last month it was just a baby. This month it's a girl." He ran his hands up and down the tops of his legs, nervously. Putting a gender to a nameless, faceless baby made that baby seem so much more real.

"I want to keep her...I-I uh know that I had mentioned before...uh, you and Aria raising her. But I was emotional a...and, uh...I wasn't thinking straight." Hanna rubbed her hand over her bump, overexagerating the circles she was making. Ezra's face didn't change.

"I had never even mentioned the possibility of Aria and I adopting y-..our...baby. So that's fine." He swallowed.

"Will I get to see her?"

"Well duh. You are her dad, silly." Hanna stroked Ezra's cheek with her fingers.

She was doing it again. Compulsively. Without even thinking.

 _It was several months before Aria and Ezra's wedding, and all of the boys were getting together that afternoon to get fitted for their tuxes and suits. Ezra had asked Mike, Toby and Caleb to be his groomsmen, not bothering to ask his own brother to be a part of his wedding. Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna had showed up to help guide the men in the right direction of Aria's vision. Bohemian-chic was a foreign concept to them, and to be quite frank Aria wasn't sure it was even something that the tuxedo shop would be familiar with._

 _As Aria and Spencer walked around looking at different shades of navy blues and khaki, Emily grabbed Hanna by the arm and pulled her aside._

 _"What is going on?" Emily questioned Hanna._

 _"What do you mean?" Hanna knew exactly what Emily meant._

 _"The way that you keep trying to flirt with Ezra...it's getting really noticeable."_

 _"I'm not flirting with Ezra at all, just making some friendly suggestions to the groom...that's all." Hanna crossed her arms over her chest and strained to look over Emily's head to see everyone else at the other end of the shop._

 _"No Hanna, you're not. And really, it's making me uncomfortable. I saw the way that you tried to slide your hand across Ezra's ass when you were complimenting the cut of the chinos he had on."_

 _Emily had a way of seeing everything. It was something that Hanna admired, yet despised, about her. Nothing got past her._

 _"Okay...okay. I'll try and be more discrete next time." Hanna had taken a step to the side to walk away from the conversation with Emily stepped in front of her._

 _"No Hanna. You won't. Because there shouldn't BE a next time. Incase you missed it, we're picking out tuxes for a wedding. And you aren't the bride."_

 _You aren't the bride. You, Hanna Joy Marin, are not the bride this time nor will you be the bride next time._

Ezra turned his face to the side, looking at the carpet next to the stool he was sitting on. His jaw tensed, and relaxed, over and over again as he thought about what his next move should be. He knew he needed to pick and choose his words very carefully.

"Hanna...we're not going to play house." His voice dropped.

She furrowed her eyebrows, but continued to listen.

"I still love Aria. And I am trying everything, I mean...EVERYTHING...to make my marriage work."

Her stomach dropped. In the fifteen minutes it had taken for Ezra to call her and announce he needed to see her, to him sitting in front of her, Hanna had unknowingly made up her mind.

Hanna wanted to play house with Ezra. She wanted him to come home every night and rock their baby and read her beautiful bed time stories. She wanted him to kiss their baby on the cheek, and her on the mouth, every morning while he was running out the door with his brief case to go to work.

But then Hanna remembered one little thing.

This baby was more than likely not even Ezra's baby. It's funny how you can so easily forget such a large piece of the story when you are trying to paint such a pretty picture in your mind.

He cleared his throat several times before he began talking again.

"As far as I'm concerned, she isn't mine until a paternity test is taken to prove she is. So until you have her, I don't want to hear from you."

Hanna's heart exploded. Right there, in the middle of her living room. In a million, thick, bloody pieces.

'I don't want to hear from you.' It rattled her brain and echoed in her ears.

And with that, Ezra stood up and walked out of Hanna's house, and possibly her life.

She knew she needed to do it. She needed to call. Even if she wasn't sure the number was still his anymore, it was worth a shot. She needed someone right now, more than she had needed someone ever before.

But what should she say?

What shouldn't she say?

Without thinking it over for the fifth time, Hanna flipped to her contacts, scrolled through and hit dial once she found the name she was looking for.

The phone rang several times, and then someone picked up.

"Hanna?"

Hanna gasped, and instantly turned her surprise to tears.

"Hanna, is that you? Are you okay?"

She was sobbing now. She had no idea why. Well, yes she did.

"Can you please come to Rosewood?" She tried to compose herself.

"I really just need you right now, Caleb."


	13. Chapter 12 - Well Look Who It Is

Caleb was panicked after receiving the call from Hanna. They weren't a couple anymore. He had taken great steps to sever all ties with Rosewood and start a new life elsewhere. He should have figured that he would always be attached to Rosewood as long as Hanna still resided there.

"Hanna, slow down. Slow down." He could hear her heavy sobs through the phone.

"I need you to slow down, take a deep _breath_ and then talk... to me."

Hanna tried listening to Caleb's direction, but she was unsuccessful at trying to slow down her breathing.

"Caleb. Just please, please I am _begging_ you. Please come home. Today. Tonight. _Now_ I just need to see you."

"Hanna I can't just leave. I have a job. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Would you come if I was hurt?" She sniffled and tried to compose herself. This could be the big moment. She could drop the bomb right now, and Caleb would be on the next flight to Rosewood.

"Well I mean...it depends on the hurt, Hanna."

She swallowed hard. That was not the answer she had expected Caleb to give her. Hanna had always hoped that all it would take was a quick phone call and Caleb would come running back in to Hanna's life.

But maybe things weren't that simple anymore. Maybe he had truly moved on, like he had wanted.

He had built a new life without Hanna.

"I can't talk about it over the phone," Hanna mumbled, "I just really need you HERE. I need to see you Caleb. You know I wouldn't call out of nowhere after months and ask you to come see me if it wasn't important." The tears began to flow freely again, and there was silence on the line.

It was painful silence. The Caleb that Hanna remembered would have been in the car on the way to the airport as soon as he saw it was Hanna calling. He would have taken it as a clear message from the universe that she was not ready to let go of what they had, and he would rush back and in to her arms. The Caleb that Hanna loved would run to her and take her in to his arms and hold her tightly enough to make her feel that the rest of the world was jealous.

Yet, here she stood. Jealous of the rest of the world.

Caleb finally agreed to come, but he wasn't flying. He wouldn't be here today, tomorrow or even the next day.

"Fine Hanna. I'll come. But I'm driving... "

She had tried to plead with him to fly, even offering him her credit card if money was an issue. But Caleb has insisted that he needed a quick way to get out of town if he needed to leave, and an airplane just wasn't fast enough for him.

 _The kitchen was dark this morning. It was a stormy day in the city and Aria was dreading her ride in today. But work at the studio had thankfully picked up and she was finally starting to make a profit instead of just sliding by._

 _Aria had become quite a workaholic. She would wake up hours before Ezra and answer work emails on her iPhone from bed, before getting up and making coffee. Aria would shower and get dressed, and then check her emails again while making breakfast. Somewhere inbetween it all she would find a spare minute or two to kiss Ezra good morning and hand him a to-go cup of coffee before he walked out the door. They usually didn't talk a lot in the morning._

 _This particular morning Ezra had decided that things needed to be different._

 _As Aria was leaning up against the kitchen counter, elbows propped upon it, cradling her iPhone in her hands. Ezra saw her out of the corner of his eye as he walked down the stairs. Instead of carrying his brief case in to the kitchen with him, and buttoning up his jacket before reaching for his coffee, he leaned his brief case agains the front door and tossed his jacket over the banister. Aria was so focused on the email she was replying to that she didn't notice Ezra walk in to the kitchen._

 _He quietly walked up behind her and slid his hands around her waist, his thumbs peeking up under the bottom of her shirt and grazing her skin as they moved around. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, pushing her hair out of the way with his nose. Aria laughed._

 _"What are you doing ya crazy!" She tried to turn to look at him, but he had a grip on her hips and held them in place._

 _"Don't talk," he whispered in to her ear, "I've missed you."_

 _"Impossible. I haven't gone anywhere silly." She reached her hand around his neck and pulled her fingers through his brown curls._

 _"You don't have to be gone for me to miss you...like this." He turned her hips around so she was facing him, and he set her up on the counter._

 _He placed his mouth against the left side of her neck and whispered to her._

 _"No more counting. No more timing. No more checking. No more trying. Let's just be us again," he pushed her hair away, again, with his right hand, "this is us."_

 _Aria's mood visibly changed and she pulled away from him._

 _"We_ _ **are**_ _being us Ezra. We've never not been us."_

 _He stopped kissing her shoulder and let her shirt pull back in to place. He hung his head down in frustration._

 _Ezra placed his hands flatly on the counter on both sides of Aria and pushed his fingertips in to the granite tops._

 _"When was the last time we did this?" He gestured to the their current situation._

 _"When was the last time that you pulled me in to the shower with you like you used to? Or you met me on my lunch break?"_

 _Aria swallowed hard._

 _'He isn't being fair', she thought to herself._

 _They had been trying for a baby for a year now, and Aria had been reading books and websites for the last six months on suggestions of how to get pregnant sooner, rather than later. She had been checking and charting her ovulations. She even purchased Ezra boxers, because apparently too much restriction on the 'boys' was damaging._

 _Aria wrapped her arms around Ezra's neck, and her legs around his waist._

 _"You know we are supposed to save this for when I'm ovulating silly..." she tried to nuzzle in to his neck._

 _Talk about sending him mixed messages._

 _Ezra's face fell flat and his lips were pulled in to a taught line across his face. He slowly unwrapped Aria's legs and arms from around himself, and pulled away from her. He walked to the bannister and grabbed his jacket, turning to face Aria as he began buttoning it._

 _"You're draining the intimacy out of our relationship, like a slow bleed." Aria was surprised at how little emotion he was showing her, he sounded frankly exhausted._

 _"But you know that all the books say -"_

 _"I don't give a f*** what the damn books say, Aria. If I can't have you on the counter anymore...or even in our bedroom... is it even worth it? Intimacy isn't intimate if it's charted and planned."_

 _Aria slammed a hand down on the counter._

 _"Do we both still want this or not Ezra?"_

 _Aria was left to wonder. Ezra simply grabbed his brief case and left for work._

 _She refused to cry. Aria knew she needed to hold her ground and be strong if they wanted to have a family. Ezra would understand the first time he held their baby in his arms. They had to work a little harder than the normal couple, but with some sacrifices she knew they could get there._

After Ezra left Hanna's, he went back to the hotel he had been staying in and packed his bags.

'I'm getting out of his hell hole...' He thought to himself as he slid his toiletries in to his duffel bag.

'I don't care if she doesn't want me to come back. It's half my house. Half my couch. She has to at least let me sleep on the couch...'

Thirty minutes later he slid his room key across the counter to the night attendant as he checked out of his room. He felt accomplished as he threw his duffel bag in to the backseat and started his car down the road towards home. _Home._ Could it be considered home if he wasn't welcome there?

Aria was in the kitchen cutting tomatoes and lettuce. It had been difficult for her to figure out how to cook for just one person, and tacos were no exception, but she had been craving them for three days. As she slid the knife through the top of the tomato, the aroma of the juice found its way in to her face. Aria found it incredibly offensive and placed her hand over her mouth for a moment.

'What in the world...' she thought to herself as she grabbed the tomato and began to cut it again. But once more, the smell wafted in to her nose. This time she dropped the knife and the tomato to the cutting board and ran for the bathroom.

As Ezra parked the car in their driveway, he cut the engine and stared at the front door. He was afraid to walk up and find that his key no longer worked in the lock. Yet, he thought that he may be more afraid that his key would work in the lock. He wasn't sure what he would find inside. Would all of his things be gone. Would their photos be off the walls?

'Just get out of your car, walk up the sidewalk like normal...put your key in the door and go in like you live here Ezra...just go. The first step is getting out of the car.' He thought to himself.

Ezra threw the car door open and looked at the driveway. One foot in front of the other would take him back to the life that he had been longing for. It wouldn't be perfect. He had given that life up the minute he climbed in to the car with Hanna months ago. A pang of guilt rushed over him and he shut the door. Ezra began doubting if he deserved to be welcomed back in to their home.

 _Hanna hadn't been herself since Caleb left._

 _She was lonely, and lonely was a new feeling. When he had been here they had been busy planning a life together. Well, Hanna had been busy planning a life for them. She didn't want much. A beautiful two carat round diamond engagement ring from Tiffany's, a Pnina Tornai wedding dress with lace inserts and a corset top. She could settle for a pair of SJP heels instead of Christian Louboutin, since the dress would surely cut in to her shoe budget. After their wedding preparations were over she could start focusing on their home. Hanna knew she wasn't the best housekeeper, so they needed something reasonably sized that she could hire someone to come in and clean once a week._

 _Caleb had been feeling the pressure to ask Hanna to marry him. The pictures of rings that she had taped to the bathroom mirror weren't subtle hints, after all. And he wanted to, he really did. But the things Hanna wanted Caleb couldn't afford, and she had clearly set her expectations high. Being a genius at computer hacking was a great skill to have, but it hardly , paid the bills, let alone allowed him to buy a $10,000 engagement ring._

 _The morning that Caleb announced his was leaving was surreal to Hanna. In a flash Caleb had told her that his Mom was dying and she needed him. He had told her like it was no big deal. He was folding jeans and placing them in a suit case when he told Hanna he didn't know when he would be coming back._

 _"I'm going with you," Hanna insisted as she reached for her suit case._

 _"No, you're not Hanna. I have to do this by myself."_

 _"I don't want you to do this alone, Caleb," she explained as she started pulling the zipper around her bag to open it._

 _"HANNA. You aren't listening to me. I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO."_

 _Caleb had never yelled at Hanna before that she could recall. Yet here he was, yelling at her. Telling her she wasn't welcome to come with him._

 _"You NEED me Caleb. You are going to need me a lot to help with you mom."_

 _"NO I'M NOT HANNA, I DON'T NEED YOU TO HOLD MY HAND WHILE I WATCH MY MOM DIE."_

 _Hanna didn't know what to say in that moment. She knew that Caleb was just upset. But she had expected him to ask her to go with him. That he would know that he was going to need her._

 _Hanna bit the inside of her cheeks while she watched Caleb toss more clothing in to his suit case._

 _"When do you think you'll be back?"_

 _"I don't think I'm coming back. That's why you can't go with me."_

Hanna decided that a little retail therapy would help relieve some of the anxiety she was feeling over Caleb coming. She slipped on her COACH wedges, she knew she needed to get good wear out of them before her feet were too swollen, and slung her purse over her shoulder as she headed out the door to the mall. They were only going to be open for another hour or so, but she was a great power shopper.

As she poured over the different thread counts of sheets in Macy's, she saw someone she thought that she recognized in her peripheral vision. She grabbed a package of queen sized sheets with a tiny pink rosebud print all over them and quickly placed them under her arm. She then began to follow the person she had seen. Hanna was doing her best to stay out of sight, ducking behind fixtures and hiding behind displays. Finally the person turned to the side and Hanna could clearly make out the profile of their face.

She dropped the sheets and gasped.

"CALEB?"

Hanna saw Caleb's eyes dart from side to side, trying to locate Hanna.

When he finally found her his eyes widened as they immediately noticed her bulging waist line.

"Hanna..."

Neither knew what to say. They hadn't planned on telling each other their secrets in the middle of a Macys department store.

 **[[Sorry y'all I am having a bit of writer's block. I have a lot of really great plot twist and story lines in my head, but it is taking me some time and thought to get the background set up and everything aligned for them to work out. I had not originally intended for this to turn in to a Haleb story (I never even planned for Caleb to be brought in to the storyline) but I seem to have a lot of Haleb shippers so hey, why not!? As always, leave me reviews and let me know what you thought of it and what direction you would like to see the story take! I am open to ideas since I am experiencing some blockage :\ ]]**


	14. Chapter 13 - How Long Will I Love You

**[[The song that is used in the beginning of this chapter is actually a really beautiful song that I believe is a cover of someone else's song, but the version I have heard is called 'How Long Will I Love You?' by Ellie Goulding. I am currently planning my own wedding and this song has been in the running for my first dance song as well. I can easily picture Ezra and Aria dancing to this song at their wedding though. And also Lucy Hale's song 'Loved'... oddly enough haha. Hope you all enjoy this special double-shot of chapters today! I have sooo much content to cover, so the more chapters I can fit in the better! :) Have a good night and as always review and let me know your thoughts/comments/suggestions!]]**

 _How long will I love you?_

 _As long as stars are above you,_

 _and longer if I can._

 _How long will I need you?_

 _As long as the seasons need to,_

 _follow their plan._

 _How long will I be with you?_

 _As long as the sea is bound to,_

 _wash upon the sand._

 _How long will I want you?_

 _As long as you want me to,_

 _and longer by far._

 _How long will I hold you?_

 _As long as your father told you,_

 _as long as you can._

 _Aria's face was resting gently upon Ezra's shoulder, his hands were warm against the lace of her dress, resting still on her hips. In this moment, everything that they had fought for faded away. They had lost so many battles, but they had finally won the war. Aria had always dreamed of her wedding day and her first dance. Countless nights were spent at sleep overs gossiping with the girls about who would marry who. Never did Aria think that she would find herself in the arms of Ezra Fitz, her former high school English teacher, her forever love, her husband._

 _"This is pretty perfect," she spoke in to his shoulder. Ezra lay his cheek to rest on the top of Aria's head._

 _"I have to say, I never imagined my wedding day...but if I had, this still would have topped anything I could have dreamed."_

 _Aria's heart fluttered._

 _"That's why I married you." She squeezed herself closer against him. Breathing him in deeply. Ezra had worn cologne today, and Aria realized she had never noticed him wearing it before, ever. The entire time she had known him he had just smelled clean, like Ezra. But today he smelled like an Abercrombie and Fitch store. So unlike him, Aria thought, but kind of adorable that he was trying so hard._

 _"Are you sure you didn't marry me for my dashing good looks and my sparkling intellect?"_

 _"Those are obviously bonuses, but no. I think I really married you because you promised to always bake me a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and wrap all the presents at Christmas. Priorities Ezra, geez."_

 _They were both laughing now. Everyone watching them dance, wondering what kind of inside joke the two were sharing amongst themselves._

 _He pulled away a little, just enough that he could look Aria in the eyes as they swayed together, their first dance coming close to an end._

 _"Well I married you, Mrs. Fitz, because my world doesn't spin right if you're not in it," he kissed her gently on the forehead, "And, no one else looks as pretty as you do eating my pumpkin pie."_

 _And with that, their first dance as husband and wife was over._

Ezra refused to sleep another night in a strange bed or the backseat of his car. He was going to make it in this house this tonight. Whether Aria let him sleep in his own bed or not was irrelevant. The comfort of being back inside his own home after a long four weeks was more than enough.

He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder as he walked up the sidewalk. To his surprise the front door was unlocked. He was relieved for a moment, and then his relief turned to anger. Aria needed to be more careful, if he could walk in without a key so could anyone else off the street. Ezra was a little surprised that Aria had let her guard down, unless...he thought...she was expecting someone.

"Aria? Are you home?" He slid his shoes off at the door and set his duffle bag down. As he turned the corner he saw that she must have been home. There were fresh vegetables still on the cutting board.

"Aria?" He yelled out again as he began walking down the hallway. As he got closer to the bathroom he heard what sounded like gagging sounds. Without thinking he half ran to the bathroom and flung open the door.

Aria's eyes were wide as she looked at Ezra standing next to her, but before she could speak her body wretched and Aria threw her face back in to the toilet. When she was done she wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She questioned Ezra while trying to catch her breath.

"Aria, the better question is what are you doing?" He squatted down to Aria's level on the floor, and he couldn't help but notice she scooted away from him just a little.

"I must be coming down with the stomach flu or something, but I'm fine."

"You definitely don't look fine Aria. I've never heard anyone puke like that before."

She shot him a look.

'Point taken', Ezra thought to himself.

He stood up and extended his hand out to her to help her off of the floor. She ignored it and stood up on her own, crossing her arms and staring at Ezra's chin. She had learned to tell a lot about how Ezra was feeling by the way he held his bottom lip.

Tonight it was slightly tucked in under his top teeth, and he kept running his tongue back and forth over the top of it. He was feeling apologetic and embarrassed, she assumed. That's what it had usually meant before at least. Like the time he had attempted to do laundry and surprise her. He tossed her bra in the washer without putting it in a lingerie bag first, and the straps had gotten caught on the oscilator in the middle and ripped them clean off. He had shamefully handed her the shredded garment later that night, lip tucked just slightly under teeth...just like they were now.

"Who let you in?" Aria shoved past Ezra and back in to the kitchen.

"Uh...I believe you did when you didn't lock the front door."

"Hmm." Aria walked back to the kitchen and picked up where she left off cutting tomatoes. But her stomach started to churn again.

"Ugh, oh no. I am just so done with these." She picked up the cutting board and pushed all of the contents off of it and in to the trash. When the tomato hit the bag, a little juice splashed on to Aria's face and she was off running again to the bathroom.

Ezra wondered to himself what Aria's problem was tonight. He had only ever seen her get sick a handful of times. But she hadn't kicked him out...yet. So he took his opportunity and ran with it, grabbing a sheet and blanket from the linen closet he made their couch in to a makeshift bed and tried his best to fall asleep before Aria could tell him to get out.

Hanna and Caleb stood looking at each other across the aisle, stunned.

"You lied to me!" Hanna yelled, "What in the hell are you doing here!? You said it was going to be DAYS before I saw you!" Neither of them moved closer to the other.

"Well you didn't tell me that you were massively PREGNANT either, Hanna!" Caleb gestured to her stomach with still disbelieving eyes.

"What do you think I needed to talk to you about!?" She stepped a little closer, yet still kept her distance. She wasn't afraid of Caleb, but the way he was looking at her made her feel uneasy.

Caleb didn't know what to say. He just let his eyes burn in to Hanna's bump before he cleared his throat and finally closed the distance between the two of them.

"When did this happen?" He hadn't pulled his eyes away.

"Well, the doctor said about sixteen weeks or so ago," she tucked a long blonde curl behind her ear, "Merry Christmas to me." She had hoped that he would catch her subtle hint.

"Wow. So, how's it feel?"

How's it feel?

'What a stupid, stupid question,' Hanna thought to herself.

"It feels like I ate a burrito that sprouted hands and feet. Fat, miserable, swollen...and it's only going to get worse."

Caleb picked up his hand to touch her belly, and then quickly retracted it back to his side.

"It's okay, you can feel." She forcefully picked his fingers up and placed them to the right of her belly button.

"She likes to hang out over here the most."

"She?"

"Oh...uh yea. This is all girl in here, baby." Hanna circled her belly with a finger tip and gave a little laugh as an attempt to break the awkwardness.

"Macy's will be closing in ten minutes. Please make your final purchases and proceed to the exit. Have a nice evening and thanks for shopping with us."

"Well...I guess I'll see you in a few days," Hanna attempted to bend down and pick up her sheets but Caleb noticed her struggle and rushed to pick them up for her.

"Actually you know...I'm here now. We could talk uh..now. If you want." Caleb moved the sheets back and forth between his hands nervously.

Hanna gave Caleb a wide smile.

"Yea...okay."

Ezra was awakened by Aria shaking him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'll get my stuff and go to the driveway." he apologized groggily, grabbing his blanket and starting to slide off of the couch.

"No, no please don't go. I need you to drive me to the ER." Aria was holding a bag in front of her face.

"I have been throwing up for over eight hours, non-stop. I think I'm dying."

She shoved her face back in to the bag as she began heaving again.

"It just hurts so bad, I can't handle it anymore," she was trying to catch her breath and had sweat beads on her forehead.

"Of course, of course. Do you need something right now before we go? Can I help you?"

"Just please..tie my shoes for me, and get me to the ER. Fast. Please."


	15. Chapter 14 - Pour Your Heart Out To Me

Hanna knew what Caleb had to be wondering, but like a true gentleman, he had avoided asking.

'Who's the baby daddy?'

They couldn't avoid talking about it for much longer. Caleb had already asked her when her due date was and if she was scared.

"So, when does she... can't believe that's a little girl in there ... make her grand entrance?"

"Sometime around September 24th was the doctors guess...but I'm totally hoping for sooner. The less time I have to spend incubating the better."

Hanna paused.

"Wow, that sounded really bad. I mean...I totally want to go full term...and then evict her."

Caleb laughed a little but tried to hide his chuckles behind his hands.

"Have you and her dad picked out a name yet?"

And there it was. Caleb had casually pulled a grenade out of his back pocket, pulled the pin and set it in the middle of the room.

Hanna could choose to avoid and run, or she could finally let it all blow up and pray for some relief after the smoke had cleared.

She hesitated to answer and Caleb felt embarrassed for asking something so personal so soon.

"We don't have to talk about it Hanna, it's none of my business."

"No, No. Caleb. I have some explaining to do." She wrapped her hands around her elbows in an attempt to hug herself for comfort as she finally poured all of her secrets out to Caleb.

"I haven't picked a name yet because I'm not sure who I should ask for help."

She looked for his reaction, which he had not had one, before she continued.

Time for the big ka-boom.

"Ezra Fitz and I were having an affair, Caleb."

A look of confusion flooded his face and his hands flew to the coffee table in front of him to help steady himself.

"What!?...Hanna!...What!?"

Hanna took deep breaths as she explained, focusing her eyes on the coffee table in front of the two of them as she explained away all of her mistakes.

"It started in October. I was lonely. He was frustrated with his marriage and..." she sighed, "he missed just being with someone."

She gave Caleb a minute to process. She had expected him to get angry, to just get up and walk out and leave her alone like Ezra had done.

"So...is she his?'

His face had a strange expression on it. A mix of hurt and disgust.

"I had thought so. I didn't know what to say to him, how do you tell someone that you're having their baby when they're married to someone who is supposed to be one of your best friends. So...I had lunch with Emily and Spencer. They both walked out on me though..."

She was waiting for Caleb to stop her, to yell at her. To tell her that he had heard enough. But he just sat beside her in stunned silence.

"One of them must have told Aria though, because she confronted Ezra and threw him out of their house."

"Good for her! Aria doesn't deserve that kind of shit in her marriage."

Hanna's jaw dropped a little, but she continued on.

"When I had my first appointment I went alone. I couldn't ask Ezra to go, for a lot of reasons...and the girls would never go with me. That's just another slap in the face to Aria, so I just went by myself. She's perfect and everything's fine but the doctor told me I was a lot farther than I thought I was, and she was conceived around Christmas..." her voice softened and dropped as she turned in her seat to look at Caleb.

"We were together over Christmas, Caleb."

He scratched as his chin, in contemplation.

"Ezra and I weren't together then, I promise you. Aria had taken him out of town for Christmas with her family."

They both sat in silence, neither knowing where to look or what to say. After what felt like hours, but was only minutes, Caleb spoke up.

"Well... for what it's worth, I like the name Averee."

Hanna's face froze. She couldn't breathe or speak, the tears she was unaware of were flowing down her cheeks.

"If it's that bad of a name you don't have to use it." Caleb tried to make Hanna laugh.

"You don't have to go through this alone anymore Hanna." She caught herself starting to sob, and tried to capture them in her throat.

"But..But, what if she isn't y-yours? There's always a chance," her shoulders were shaking gently back and forth.

"She needs a dad either way, right? Ezra won't step up after she's born if he hasn't stepped up already. Which doesn't surprise me. Aria is so far up his ass-" Hanna cleared her throat.

Hanna's heart didn't know what to do. Crumble in hurt because Ezra had knowingly walked away from her, and what they had both thought at the time, was his baby. Or should it explode from joy, because Caleb still loved her and came back to her? She had waited for this day for years. But after watching him pack his things and walk out on her she thought he would never come back again.

"We still have a lot to talk about, like I'm sure you wanna kick my ass for lying to you about where I was, but can we talk tomorrow? My mind feels like it's going to explode. I think we both should get some shut eye."

Hanna cracked a side smile.

"Guest room's all ready made up for you."

Ezra picked Aria up from the passenger seat. She was limp, pale and exhausted. They looked less than glamorous as Ezra speed walked through the sliding doors of the emergency room. Aria had vomited on Ezra's shoulder as he was putting her in the car at home. t was nothing but a little stomach acid, which he was thankful for. She had emptied her stomach many hours before.

"What's your emergency, sir?" the registrar asked.

"She hasn't stopped vomiting since about 7pm. She's exhausted, says she is in pain and probably dehydrated...I'm just guessing on that though." He trailed off.

"Okay, please take a seat and we'll call you back soon."

Aria's eyes were closed, but her stomach churned again and she emptied it in to the bag she had been carrying around her arm.

"I'm dying. This has to be what dying feels like."

Ezra laughed, she had always been a drama queen as long as he had known her.

They had been waiting for a little over an hour and Ezra was getting impatient. Aria had still not been able to get any rest.

"Um, excuse me. Are we going to be seen soon?" He yelled across the lobby to the woman at the desk. She ignored him and went about fiddling on her computer.

Another thirty minutes or so passed and they were finally called back to a room.

"She seems to think that she has a slight, well..I suppose now it's aggressive, stomach bug." Ezra explained to the ER nurse while smoothing Aria's damp hair back away from her face. She had been in a cold sweat all night.

"Are there any pre-existing medical conditions we should be aware of?"

Ezra shook his head.

"Any possibility of pregnancy?" the nurse asked while typing away on her computer.

Ezra's eyes widened a little and Aria's eyes opened up slightly.

"No." the said in unison. The nurse typed away.

"We're going to run a few blood tests, just to check a few levels out before we administer any medication." She gave Ezra a look that he didn't catch.

Aria pulled at Ezra's fingers.

"No needles, no needles. Please?" She mumbled.

"You have to let them work their magic if you want to feel better, baby."

He paused. She dropped his fingers and curled in to herself. It had been months since he had called her that. And even in the midst of severe stomach cramps Aria remembered that she had still not forgiven Ezra.

The nurse returned to the room.

"You're just going to feel a little pinch."

She drew several vials of blood from Aria's left arm.

"Nothing left. I'm all dried up." Aria tried to wave the nurse away.

"Well good, because I'm done. Got everything I needed at the first stick." She placed labels on each vial of blood and stuck them in a carrier.

"We'll have these results back in just a little bit, and then we can get you on some meds and back on the mend. Be back soon."

Aria was finally starting to drift off to sleep. Her stomach had finally exhausted itself.

Ezra sat on the doctors rolling stool, spinning himself in small circles to keep awake.

Hopefully this didn't take too long, he had so looked forward to sleeping on the couch that night and now it was already early morning.


	16. Chapter 15 - Stunning

**[[Thanks for all of your great reviews guys! Glad that the Haleb & Ezria lovers are finding a place to all come together and be friendly...most of the time haha! I just needed to clear up a little timing error that I believe I made in the previous few chapters. Hanna was telling Caleb how she thought she was 16 weeks, but there was a time jump and she is about 20 weeks now. That explains how she has a pretty visible baby bump now ;) Hope you all enjoy this chapter and as always make so to review and let me know what you think/liked/wish to see in future ones! This is a much shorter chapter than normal, I will post a longer one tonight. :) ]]**

Ezra was jolted awake by the sound of a clip board bouncing off of the counter in Aria's room.

"Well good morning folks, sorry that took so long."

He didn't know how it had happened, but Ezra had managed to fall asleep sitting on the stool, head tipped back and mouth wide open. He turned his neck from left to right in an attempt to stretch the kinks out.

The doctor cleared this throat and looked Ezra up and down.

"Do you mind, bud?" he motioned to the stool that Ezra was still sitting on.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry...of course!" He groggily stumbled back away from the stool so the doctor could take a seat. Aria was awake, but kept her eyes closed. Her body had finally calmed down and she thought that if she just lay in one position and not move a muscle she could say that way for awhile.

"So, as you know we ran some tests. Everything checks out except we did find two abnormalities."

The doctor stopped talking and glanced back and forth between Aria and Ezra before he continued on.

"Your iron count is exceptionally low which could very easily explain your lethargy and upset stomach. Not enough iron in your blood will literally make you ill... very pale...you will want to sleep a lot."

"So she just needs to take a supplement or eat some red meat and she'll be fine?" Ezra questioned. He had found a clear spot on a wall across the room from Aria's bed to lean against.

"Well, normally I would say yes. But you may not feel well for quite awhile, Mrs. Fitz."

Aria's eyes shot open and she quickly scanned the room to find and lock eyes with the doctor. He had stood up and walked over to her bed side.

"The results of your blood test also revealed that you are very, very pregnant," he reached a hand out to Aria to congratulate her.

You could have heard the blood pumping through each of their veins, respectfully, if you had been listening closely enough.

"Congratulations to you both." He shot a smile to both Ezra and Aria and then took his seat again, flipping through some more papers in Aria's file.

"Although not always the case, the levels of progesterone we found in your blood were almost double what they normally are...I think you will have a very successful pregnancy Mrs. Fitz, looking through your chart I can see that this is something that you have been attempting for quite some time."

Like perfect clock work, Aria's morning sickness also had amazing timing. Her stomach began to turn at the words 'successful pregnancy' and by the time he said 'attempting' she was leaned over the edge of her bed retching in to a garbage can.

After he had left, Ezra and Aria sat in her room silent for quite a few minutes for anyone said anything.

"Well...wow," Ezra's face said it all. He was absolutely astonished, and horrified at the same time. How did Aria having the stomach fl come full circle to finally having what they had always wanted?

Aria was admitted to the hospital for the day. The nurse poked an IV in to her arm filled with a clear solution to rehydrate her body.

"Is there any way that we can like...extra confirm this?" Aria asked the nurse while looking down and picking at her nails.

"The only way to confirm it anymore than a blood test would be to do a sonogram." The nurse curled a clear tube up and hung it off of the IV pole.

Aria anxiously shot her head up.

"I need one of those. Today."

"Well normally they are only given by your OBGYN...but since you have been trying so long with no success, I suppose we could try and work something out..." The nurse could obviously see the desperation in Aria's face.

"I'll be back in a little bit," and with that she was gone.

Ezra was sitting in a wooden chair next to the window of Aria's room. Neither of them had really spoken to each other. He finally turned to look at her.

"You're going to be a Mom."

She was picking at a loose sheet on the blanket on her bed.

"That's what I hear."

"Why does it feel like you're not happy about that?"

"Maybe because I thought it would be different. I didn't think that our baby would have a sibling just a few months older."

A cheap shot. Another cheap shot from Aria that was hurled right at Ezra.

"You know Aria..." he stood up from his chair and walked over to her bed side, "I signed up for this life with you. And I want this crazy life that we are building together, and look, we're still building it brick by brick...or we wouldn't be here right now." She still hadn't looked up at him.

"I still don't forgive you."

"That's okay," Ezra attempted to hold Aria's face in his hands but she pulled them down.

"I'm not ready for you to touch me again ... not yet." She folded his hands together and set them on the bed by her side.

"But... you can sit closer, if you want to."

Ezra slid his chair across the room to Aria's bedside.

Several hours later an Ultrasound Technician wheeled in a cart with a screen and several larger machines on it.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Fitz, I received an order for a sonogram. Are you ready?"

Her heart jumped in to her throat. She had never gotten farther than a blood test before. She nodded quickly and tossed her hair behind her shoulders as she stretched back. Ezra remained seated in his chair, with his clammy hands folded tightly in his lap.

The tech squirted a thick blue gel on her belly and started.

Aria and Ezra had no idea what to look for. Would it even look like anything yet or just a blob of cells?

The tech caught her breath and was quiet for a minute before she pointed to the screen.

"Do you see this?" She asked, and they nodded.

"And do you see this?" They both nodded again.

"This is twin A," she made a circle with her finger, "And this is twin B."

Ezra could have been tipped out of his chair with a feather.

"No wonder you've been so sick and exhausted girlfriend, you've got double trouble cooking."


	17. Chapter 16 - Pretty Girl, Play Nice

"You're ridiculous, Averee does not sound like a dog name."

"Averee doesn't sound like a people name." Hanna cracked an egg and dumped it in to a bowl, followed by another.

"I like Claire." Caleb wrinkled his nose in disapproval.

"Now, if there was ever a dog name...Claire would be it." Hanna rolled her eyes. She wasn't even sure why they were talking about baby names. Caleb had brought Averee back up again on his walk from the bathroom to the kitchen.

"We will just have to keep looking I suppose..."

"Who says we need to look for anything? I said I liked Claire." Hanna beat the eggs with a fork and poured them sloppily in to a frying pan on the stove. She shook a little bit of salt and pepper on top of them before turning on the burner.

"And I said I liked Averee. Two totally different names there Han."

What made Caleb think that he had any right to an opinion on the name of Hanna's baby? Ezra hadn't cared enough to even comment on the gender, and here Caleb was trying to be a father and help name it. Hanna had grown so used to the idea of doing it all by herself she was a little irritated at Caleb, and all of his strong opinions. Hanna pushed the eggs around the hot pan until they were hot and fluffy.

"Breakfast's done." She reached over her head in to a cabinet to grab plates.

"Woah, I don't think pregnant chicks are supposed to be reaching and twisting like that." Caleb gently pushed Hanna out of the way and grabbed the plates from her hands.

'I could get used to this..' she thought to herself. Now if only she could convince Caleb to actually make the breakfast as well, she would be set.

As they sat at Hanna's oak kitchen table, Caleb just pushed the eggs back and forth around his plate.

"What's wrong?" Hanna questioned him.

"You gotta tell him Hanna..." She dropped her fork to her plate.

"You think I don't know that, Caleb?" Hanna wiped at the corners of her mouth nervously with a paper towel.

"He made it really clear that he didn't want to hear from me again. So as far as I'm concerned he can just sit and think about it...and wonder, and worry. Like he would even worry about it." Hanna crossed her arms over the top of her belly in frustration. She wanted Ezra to worry and wonder about her. Even with Caleb coming around so quickly to help Hanna out, it still hurt her that Ezra would just walk away from her, and what they had thought, was his baby. What kind of guy was Ezra, really?

Caleb sat up a little straighter in his chair and ran is thumb along the top of his fork.

"So...you want Ezra to sit and think about you? To worry about you?"

"That's not what I meant." Hanna's voice was low. That was exactly what she meant. Her feelings for Ezra were still there, no matter how wrong and volatile they may be. Even though he was Aria's husband, he had been Hanna's boyfriend, for lack of a better term, for over half a year. Feelings like that, for Hanna, didn't just fade away because that person chose to walk out of her life.

"He deserves to know the truth Hanna. Think of how messed up his life must be right now, and it doesn't have to be."

'He deserves every thing he is getting,' Hanna thought to herself, again.

'He deserves worse than what he is getting, actually.'

"Call him tonight...do it for me, Hanna. I can't really come in to the picture here until Ezra is totally out of it." Caleb was tapping the heel of his foot nervously against the hardwood floor in Hanna's kitchen. The 'gift' that Aria had given her the morning after she found out about Hanna's pregnancy was sitting behind her trash can, and Hanna zoned-out staring at it. She had tried to throw it away so many times, but could never bring herself to. She wanted to return the items to Aria, maybe she would want them back some day. They seemed to be fairly sentimental, and they didn't look cheap.

Hanna brought her focus back to the conversation she was having with Caleb.

"Yea, I guess I could do that."

"Are we ever going to talk about this?" Ezra questioned Aria as he held her car door open for her. She slid herself on to the passenger seat and then slammed the door shut behind her, jerking the handle out of Ezra's hand. He stood for a moment, looking at Aria through the tinted windows, before he quickly walked around to the driver's side and took a seat.

"Listen. I know this is not the most ideal situation right now. We wanted to bring our baby..." he paused for a moment, "our baby's...in to a much happier home than we currently have." He still couldn't believe that he had to refer to his baby as plural.

"Just stop talking Ezra." Aria folded her hands across her lap and blankly stared out of the passenger side window.

"Talking is the ONLY thing we need to do right now, Aria." He reached over the center console to grab Aria's hand.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled at pulled away.

Ezra sat in shock, and silence.

He twisted his body away from Aria and pushed his back in to the seat of the car, letting the top of his head lean against the head rest. His curls pushing through the hole in it.

"What do we do now then, Aria. If you are calling the shots...what's our next move."

She slowly blinked several times, and turned to look at Ezra.

"Just take me home."

Aria sat cross-legged in the middle of the empty nursery she had previously had her emotional break down in. Ezra found her sitting in the dark. He flipped the light switch and sat down next to her.

"I really messed up."

"Mhmmn."

"I can't take that back. I can't undo what's happened...or make Hanna magically un-pregnant." The word bit at Aria, but she remained stone faced.

"But I can be a stand up guy. I can be that husband that you have always deserved, and be a great dad to our babies." He slowly reached through the space between himself and Aria and, with fingers trembling, let his finger tips touch Aria's belly. She tightened her muscles in anticipation, but surprisingly...even to herself...she did not push him away.

A tear slid down Aria's cheek, when Ezra noticed he pulled his hand away quickly. Aria grabbed it and placed it back where it was, except this time pushing his hand flat. His palm rest gently over the dip of her belly button.

"I've only known about these two for five hours, and I feel like I have needed you now more than I have ever needed you before." She paused and carefully considered what she was about to say.

"Hanna is 5 months. And has been alone for 5 months. She needs you too." Aria's lips trembled.

"Your other baby deserves you in their life just as much as these two do," she wiped a heavy tear out of her left eye, "No matter how much it sucks and makes me want to kick you right in the balls. I can't deny that baby of their Dad just because you really screwed up."

"..I don't know what I'm supposed to say right now." Ezra swallowed hard.

"I don't feel a desire...or a...or a need, to be in her life. She will grow up just fine without me around to make things confusing."

"She?"

Ezra froze. Aria was unaware that Ezra had spoken to Hanna, let alone found out that she was expecting a girl.

"Uh...yea," he rubbed at the back of his neck, "Hanna may have told me that it was a little girl."

Aria made tense fists with her hands, not allowing herself to become angry. Becoming irrational and angry would only contradict everything that she had just said. And it had taken a LOT for her to spit those words out to begin with, let alone ruin them all now with anger.

"I'm sure she'll be...pretty."

Aria hadn't known what to say. It was killing her to play nice with Ezra. She wanted to scream, to cry, to force him back out to the driveway to live forever in the backseat of his car. But she was amazed at how much she had grown up in just the short five hours she knew she was going to be a mother, twice over. With one baby Aria could manage. She could do it alone. She could have divorced Ezra, taken half of everything and just done without for awhile to make sure that her baby was taken care of. But now that there were two in the picture...she needed him. She was going to have to put up with him living under the same roof as her, and using the same shampoo. At least, for a little while.

Ezra made a face at Aria.

"She'll be a baby. No one needs to say she's pretty."

They were both quiet, in the little empty room that they had been saving to make in to a nursery.

"This room is not going to be nearly big enough for two."

"No...it's not."

"Do you think our house is big enough for two babies?" Ezra questioned.

Aria shrugged her shoulders.

After a long moment Ezra added, "We could always consider a move."

Hanna had picked up the phone, dialed Ezra's number, and hung it up at least half a dozen times. She knew she needed to do the right thing, and Caleb wasn't going to let her forget it. He was breathing down her throat every few hours wondering if she had talked to him yet. She wanted to bring up a topic more important to her, though. What had Caleb been doing in Macy's that night? He had managed to distract her and keep her busy enough that she couldn't ask him about it. She hadn't totally forgotten, it was always sitting in the back of her mind. But she was waiting for the right time and place to slip it in to their conversation.

After a lot of thought Hanna opened up her Gmail account and typed out a short email to Ezra. She read it over four times before hitting the send button.

'Ezra-

Big baby news. Well, maybe. Meet me at the coffee house tomorrow at 4. Come alone.

Xoxo, Hanna'

Hanna had really tossed around taking the 'xoxo' out, but she thought it added dramatic flair to her email so she left it in. She hoped that he would read it in time to meet up with her, even though she wasn't sure what she was going to tell him. As long as he didn't know that the baby was probably Caleb's, she had Ezra on her hook. Although as hard as he was fighting to pull the hook out of his chest and set himself free to swim back around in the pond freely, mainly to go back home to Aria, Hanna like that he still had a tie back to her. She wasn't sure if she was ready to sever it yet.

Even though Caleb was back in the picture, he had been gone for so long. She thought that she would immediately fall back in love with him, be head over heels at the idea of raising a family with him, that everything would just slide back in to place and be perfect...be exactly how it was before. But it just wasn't working that way. Hanna was afraid that her feelings she had developed for Ezra were a little stronger than she had originally anticipated, and letting go may be harder than she had hoped.


	18. Chapter 17 - Crashing In To The Truth

Hanna ran her fingers over the racks of shirts as she walked through the Motherhood Maternity store. Caleb had been sleeping in her guest room for a month now, and they were still in relationship purgatory. Should he stay, or should he go? He had become a helicopter maybe-boyfriend, rather quickly. Telling Hanna what she should and should not eat, buying her three different kind of pre-natal vitamins to try out and even insisting that Hanna get rid of her cat, Trixie, because he had read that cats were bad to be around when you were pregnant. Even though Hanna knew it had nothing to do with the cat, and everything to do with the cat's litter box, Hanna let Caleb take Trixie to the animal shelter anyway. Just one less thing for her to worry about when she is busy worrying about how to become a Mom.

She had snuck out of the house this morning to go maternity shopping alone. Her Miss Me jeans officially would not longer button, and the rubber band trick wasn't working for Hanna either. She felt that she shouldn't have been too horribly surprised, she was 6 months pregnant. Hanna hadn't told Caleb where she was going, or even that she was leaving. She just grabbed her purse and keys and walked out the front door while Caleb was in the shower. Her phone was surprisingly quiet though, maybe he knew that she needed some space.

"Is there anything I can help you find?" a sales associate with dark red hair asked Hanna. She must have looked lost. She had wandered around the store several times and still had nothing in her hands to try on, not even sure where to begin.

"Oh...that's okay. I'm just kind of looking," Hanna gave the associate a side smile and turned to look at another rack. When she did, she noticed out of the corner of her eye Aria walking in.

'What is she doing here!?' Hanna quickly thought to herself and turned to shove her nose in a side hang of red gingham dresses, still peeking out of the corner of her eye to watch Aria. Hanna looked her up and down and couldn't help but notice that Aria looked a little heftier than she had the last time she had seen her. Actually, Aria looked significantly bigger...could she be?'

Just then Hanna lost her balance from leaning in to the dresses so hard, and she fell in to the rack causing it to tip over. Aria and the associate that were helping her rushed to the fixture.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Aria asked, reaching down to help the stranger up from the floor. When she was to her feet and pushed her hair out of her face, Aria recognized the figure

"Hanna?"

Her face was beat red, and she didn't know where she should put her eyes.

"I think I'll just try this one on, thanks." Hanna unsteadily bent down and grabbed a dress out of the pile that she had created and attempted to shove past the associate and Aria to a fitting room, but Aria grabbed her arm.

"No, really. Are you okay Hanna?"

"I'm fine." She shoved a long blonde curl behind her ear.

"I just want to pretend that didn't just happen."

"How did that happen?" Aria had a sneaking suspicion that she knew, but she wanted Hanna to admit it.

Hanna swallowed hard and shifted her weight from her left leg to her right, biting the inside of her bottom lip.

"I was just trying to figure out what you were doing in a maternity store...that's all. I got all caught in these dresses and next thing you know ... " Hanna smacked her hand on a table of tank tops beside her. She considered picking one up. A maternity tank top would probably be a lot more comfortable than the skin tight camisoles she had still been trying to squeeze herself in to.

Aria was silent for a minute.

"Yea, I...we...haven't told anyone yet." She cupped her hands together under her small, bulging bump.

Hanna's eyes widened in disbelief. Her lips parted to say something, but Aria waved her hand between the two of them.

"You don't have to say anything. Everything that could possibly be said has been said by Ezra. Has...has he talked to you, recently? I told him he needs to talk to you...we all, actually... need to talk to you." Aria was stuttering, and Hanna remembered that she only did that when she was incredibly nervous. What did she have to be nervous about? This whole situation was nothing but a betrayal and slap in the face to Aria, and here she was walking on egg shells around Hanna. Shouldn't it have been reversed?

"No. No he hasn't...I have been meaning to call, but I thought uh- maybe a phone call from me wasn't super welcomed, at the moment." Hanna tilted her head and finally caved in, she made eye contact with Aria. They held each other's gaze for a moment or two, Hanna screaming apologies in her head that she could not get herself to verbalize, Aria begging Hanna to just disappear insider her own head.

"Well, you should call him. We all need to talk. And soon...you look like you could pop any day now." Aria gave a side smile and held her hands together uncomfortably.

"Oh no no no, not for three more months. I haven't bought a single thing yet so...any day now is not good timing for Miss Reese to pop in to the world-" she caught herself mid-sentence. She had told herself that she wouldn't refer to the baby by name in public, and yet here she was. Spilling her identity to the second worst possible person she could have chosen.

"Reese." Aria spoke the name out loud.

"Caleb helped me picked it out..."

"Caleb?" Aria's brows pushed together.

"But I thought that he-"

"We do uh...we do need to get together. Let's do dinner, soon. Soon, please...call me." And with that Hanna left Aria standing alone as she dove in to an open fitting room and shut the door. She heard Aria take a deep breath in and out before she also heard her flip flops flipping away, and the front door of the store open and shut.

Hanna sat on the bench in the fitting room, staring at the ugly dress in her lap. It wasn't that she hadn't been trying to get in touch with Ezra. He had ignored the email she sent him weeks ago, probably not even bothering to open it. She couldn't coax herself in to actually calling him. Hearing his voice would set back the weeks of progress she had been making, getting over him and their... situation.

Ezra was still not sleeping in the same bed as Aria, but she had let him 'officially' come back home. She did his laundry again, fixed him a plate at breakfast and dinner, but she just couldn't let him climb back in to their bed again...yet at least.

When he heard the front door open, he was surprised. Aria hadn't even been gone an hour yet and she had told him she planned on being out most of the afternoon. Her clothes weren't unbearably tight yet, but she figured that she should be prepared. Having twins meant everything happened twice as fast, and cost twice as much. Might as well stock up on some decent maternity wear before all the money was being drained out of their bank account and put in to car seats and high chairs.

"Hey?" Ezra yelled in to the entryway.

"You told me you were going to call her. That you were going to talk to her." Aria stood in the door way stone faced, with her purse strap still hanging across her shoulders.

Ezra's face turned pink and he turned his eyes to the floor. He didn't move from his place on the couch, but he also chose not to acknowledge Aria, either. She would be in shortly, if she decided that she really wanted to talk about it.

He heard her flip flops coming up the hallway.

"I ran in to her at Motherhood Maternity and guess what, she's pregnant and huge and having a girl named Reese that CALEB helped her pick out, but she's SUPPOSEDLY your baby am I right!? Or is my head exploding!?" She threw her purse in to the couch in frustration.

"This situation is so out of control." She sunk herself in to the couch next to her purse.

Ezra's face was more confused than Aria felt.

"Well...I suppose if she chose the name Reese she must feel really passionate about it." He was trying to skirt around the bigger issue. Aria gave him the, 'get-your-shit-together-and-talk-to-me-right-now' look.

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, moving forward, before he began explaining.

"I had told Hanna several weeks ago, that I didn't want to hear from her again," Aria's jaw dropped, "at least...at least until she knew for sure that her baby was mine. I had so much I was trying to keep from losing Aria... mostly you. If I had run to Hanna and played house with her would we be here?"

"We...as in you and I, would not. But we...as in you and I plus two...yes." She was still trying to wrap her head around the different scenarios that 'we' represented in her life now.

"I had to make a decision, Aria. I couldn't have it all and I chose you. My real family." He reached for her hands and placed them inside both of his.

"I would choose this every, single, time."

"But..." she took a deep breath in and out of her nose, "you owe your other baby...Reese... you owe her the courtesy of being her Dad too. You can't pick and choose which babies you are going to care about."

Ezra didn't say a word.

"I told her we all need to get together and talk. Caleb is back... I think he is trying to play Daddy."

"Well LET HIM." Ezra raised his voice.

"I didn't sign up for that life with Hanna. I want it with you!" His voice was angry. He had tossed Aria's hands out of his own and stood up off of the couch.

"You need to stop sending me mixed messages Aria. I can't play Daddy to two different families of kids. You either want me here at our home with you, helping you with OUR twins or you want me at Hanna's house helping with HER daughter." Ezra smacked his hand on the coffee table and walked out of the room.

Aria couldn't help but think how she hadn't signed up for this life either. Picking out her first maternity top should have been exciting, a life achievement, practically something that she had written in on her bucket list. And yet, Hanna and Ezra had found some way to muck that up too. She didn't want him to have to pick between the two, but deep down she knew he had to. Aria figured that he would pick her and their twins, but with Hanna's baby being born first...what would happen? Would he decide at the last second he wanted to be there for the birth and then fall in love with Reese...and Hanna by association?

She scrambled to get her cell phone out of her purse. They were taking care of this situation before it spiraled even more out of control. Aria could not spend the next three months worrying about the situation that her brain had just stupidly created.

She opened up to text messages and began composing one to Hanna.

"Dinner-tonight at 7? Gigi's?"

Aria waited. Hanna's phone was practically glued to the palm of her hand, she knew she would be receiving it in just seconds. Her phone buzzed.

"Okay. Bring Ezra. I'll bring Caleb. See you then."

Aria closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the ceiling, as if saying a silent prayer.

She started down the hallway, "You better take a shower. We have a dinner date at 7," she spoked in to their bedroom where Ezra had retreated to hide.

"And dress decent." She added to throw in a pinch of insult to his injury.

"Hey, I always dress decent!" He yelled back at her turning off the TV. He knew what dinner was about, now he just needed to find a way out of it.


	19. Chapter 18 - Let's Talk It Out

Caleb and Hanna sat across from Aria and Ezra. The restaurant was dimly lit with dozens of candles placed around the room, creating a romantic ambiance. Drinks had been ordered, but no one had said a word to each other, yet.

Ezra cleared this throat while flipping the pages of the menu back and forth, nervously.

"I've heard their chicken is really great.." Ezra lied. He hadn't even heard of this place before tonight, but he could feel Caleb's eyes boring a hole in his head. No one said a word. Ezra pursed his lips together tightly and let his eyes go back to wandering the pages.

"Reese is kicking!"

Ezra quickly looked up from his menu, mistakenly assuming that Hanna was speaking to him. She reached across her lap for Caleb's hand and placed it on the side of her belly. The same side, Ezra mentally noted, that she had placed his hand when she had asked him to raise the baby-Reese-with Aria.

Obviously plans had changed.

"Wow...she is," Caleb laughed.

Aria swallowed a hard lump that had formed in her throat and looked at Ezra uneasily. She noticed how he was uncomfortably trying to avert his eyes from Caleb and Hanna.

"D-Does... does it hurt?" Aria stuttered. She had been tearing small strips of paper off of her napkin and rolling them up in to small balls in her lap.

Hanna shook her head no.

Caleb had been eyeing down Ezra since they all sat down. He had been trying to patiently wait for Hanna to break the ice, but she wasn't moving quickly enough for him. He would just have to do it himself.

"Enough with the small talk," Caleb blurted, "When were you planning on stepping up, Ezra?" He questioned, catching Ezra completely off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, when were you going to decide to be a father? Be a part of Reese's life?"

"It's really out of line for you to ask a que-" Ezra was cut off.

"No. You know what's really out of line and totally messed up? You fooling around on your beautiful wife! Hiding half of your life from her!" Caleb tossed his napkin in to the center of the table.

Ezra sat quietly.

"And then Hanna comes up pregnant and you run. Yea, what a man you are Ezra!" Caleb pressed his back against his chair firmly and took a drink of water from his glass, his eyes never leaving Ezra's face.

"Caleb..." Hanna motioned for him to stop.

Ezra placed his palms against the edge of the table and nervously ran his finger tips across the table cloth, thinking deeply before he began speaking.

"I'm aware that I have made poor choices, that we...both of us..." he motioned to Hanna, "We have made very insensitive decisions regarding our families."

Aria winced. Was Ezra referring to the two families that he had accidentally created? Caleb pounded his fist on to the table, making Hanna jump.

"Oh my God Ezra, are you serious right now? You are such an asshole! Quit tip-toeing around it and admit what you are! A freaking home-wrecking, irresponsible loser! Hanna must be so relieved that you aren't really Reese's Dad. I know I thank God for that every day."

Silence fell across the table. No one knew what to say, especially Hanna.

"Is that true?" Aria grabbed fist fulls of the skirt of her dress.

"How can you know that?" she continued asking.

Hanna fluttered her jet black eyelashes in embarrassment. This was never how she planned on breaking this news to anyone. She had felt the color drain from her face, and the tears begin to slide down her nose. All she could do was nod her head as she prepared herself to be bombarded with questions.

"Why would you tell Ezra she's if you knew that she wasn't!? This whole time!?" Aria's voice was quickly becoming filled with rage and disgust. Hanna sank back further in her chair in an attempt to put as much space between herself and Aria, and Ezra, as she could.

"You were just jealous-I was happy and you were lonely, miserable, jealous Hanna." The words poked at Hanna's heart like needles. Each more painful than the one before.

"Oh, don't even go there Aria! You were obviously so broken up about it. Look at your situation now! Knocked up by the same husband you thought knocked up Hanna!" Caleb retorted across the table.

"Enough!" Ezra slammed the table with both hands, causing a water glass to tip and flood the table.

"I think we should go."

"Just like always. Go. Run away from your problems Ezra. Pretend that you didn't make this huge mess."

"Caleb-stop, please..."

Ezra stood up to leave and extended a hand down to Aria.

"Please...don't go." Hanna pleaded.

"I owe everyone here an explanation." She stared at the puddle of water that was slowly trickling across the table.

She went on to explain to Ezra and Aria the story that she had told Caleb just one month prior. Ezra was rubbing his templed. He was undoubtedly relieved, but also a little broken-hearted, to his surprise. He had never pictured Hanna or their-her-baby, in his life. But now that she had ripped it away, he couldn't help but think of it. Baby Reese...Rivers. Not Reese Fitz. She would probably have brown eyes instead of his blue, she would be better at math than she would be at English. Caleb would be the first man to hold her. Although Ezra had never pictured himself there for the birth, he did assume that he would be welcomed to the hospital to come meet her. Aria would insist that he go. She had, after all, been pushing him in to being a part of her life.

And now, with one flip of the tongue, Caleb had taken all of that away. Why was he not as happy as he should have been?

On the ride home Aria and Ezra were quiet. There really wasn't much Ezra could say. Aria finally broke the silence.

"At least that's all out of the way...I guess." She reached across the center console of the car and grabbed his hand, "What a relief. Now we can just think about the four of us..." She put her other hand on top of her growing baby bump.

All Ezra could do was give Aria a weak smile and rub his thumb across her finger tips. He wasn't in the mood to talk about this any more. He wasn't even in the mood to talk about their babies. Even though he was the one who had stepped out on their marriage and gotten in to someone else's bed, he couldn't help but feel cheated. He thought that he was an exclusive thing with Hanna, and he just didn't feel right about Hanna sleeping with Caleb. Ezra wasn't convinced that Reese really was Caleb's.

He needed to talk to Hanna.


	20. Chapter 19 - We Can Work It Out

**[[Hey guys! Sorry that the updates have been few and far between lately. I forgot to let you all know that I went on vacation, but I'm back! And I should be posting far more regularly now, like I used to. I am having a little bit of writer's block again...so make sure that you leave reviews with fresh ideas of where to take the story from here ;) ! ]]**

Aria held several strips of different paint chips against the bare wall in their empty nursery. She had decided the night before that they really needed to start planning and prepping for the twins. They had really contemplated selling their house and moving away, beginning a new step in their life in a new place...essentially a fresh start, but it wasn't in the cards for them, financially speaking. Aria knew that twins were an incredible blessing given their struggle with infertility, but twins were twice the price. Twice the clothing, twice the diapers, twice the wipes, twice all of the baby gear and necessities. They had a small savings started but it was nowhere near enough for what they were going to need.

She needed to see the colors from a new perspective. She taped them to the wall and stood back.

'This is so much easier..' she thought to herself, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. At 15 weeks with twins nothing was fitting and Aria was already becoming physically uncomfortable. She couldn't even imagine how much worse it was going to get. Her eyes bounced between the different shades of pinks, greens and blues.

The couple couldn't agree on whether or not to find out the twins' gender.

Ezra was dying to know and Aria wanted to be surprised.

'It really would be so much easier to know what color to pick if we found out...' She continued thinking to herself.

They had chosen a light grey carpet for the nursery and had it delivered and installed a week ago. It was soft and fluffy and Aria could just imagine her babies rolling around on it. She squinted her eyes and focused on a pastel shade of yellow. It was completely neutral and absolutely perfect for a baby boy or a baby girl, even though Aria was getting a lot of 'girl' vibes from her growing womb lately.

'We could paint the ceiling a soft blue...maybe sponge some clouds on it...' she considered.

Soon she found herself sitting cross legged on the floor, scribbling measurements, colors and ideas in to a notebook.

It was no secret that the dynamic in Aria and Ezra's marriage had changed. Aria still didn't full trust Ezra, and had only recently began letting him sleep in their bed again. Not even because she was ready, but because they needed to recapture the normalcy they once had. They didn't touch or cuddle, and there were usually no good night kisses either. Things were cold between them still, and neither one had attempted to make any efforts towards warming their relationship back up anytime soon.

Ezra was relieved that the twins were going to be his only children, for now. For several weeks he had felt a sort of uneasiness about the entire situation with Hanna. He had never been sure of how to talk about it, so he kept it to himself. Caleb had made it pretty clear that Ezra wasn't welcome to even look at Hanna, so talking to her wasn't an option. Aria would never understand either, so he decided to just deal with it all on his own. He had enough going on at home to occupy his mind anyway.

Spencer had been dropping by every evening to help Aria with pre-natal yoga.

"It helps strengthen your core, so you'll be able to push harder and get them out more easily." Spencer had explained to Aria.

"Plus, it helps with the anxiety that I'm sure you're having about impending motherhood...and it helps to stretch out your round ligaments which I read get pretty tender...oh and it helps relieve stress in your muscles from the extra weight that you'll put on."

Aria shot Spencer a look, but she was convinced enough to give it a shot. She was surprised with how much she did enjoy it. It was just Aria and Spencer alone with their yoga mats in the backyard. The sun was usually setting and if they were lucky there was a great breeze. Aria would never admit it but her favorite part was that she could wear just a sports bra and yoga pants and no one cared. For a little while her stomach could breathe.

It was also a plus that Spencer was always there when Ezra got home from work at night. She would help to break the ice before scooting out the front door, leaving Aria to make small talk until it was time for bed.

"Aria, you need to work on holding your balance within your core," Spencer lectured. Aria rolled her eyes, ignoring her.

"So...have you thought of any names yet?" Spencer pried.

"A couple," Aria stretched her arms up over her head, "We can't agree on anything though."

"Well, what do you like? Your opinion should count as 75% of the vote since you're the pregnant one."

"My maternal intuition is telling me that they're going to be identical girls," Spencer shot her a look of disbelief, Aria didn't even notice, "But I don't want to do the stereotypical twin girl names...yanno?" She paused to adjust the band of her yoga pants.

"Ezra likes Elaina and Delaney," Aria scrunched up her nose in disapproval, "Or even worse...Molly and Miley."

"Wait. Miley?" Spencer stopped in mid-lunge, "Please don't let that happen to your children."

"I like names that are more...unique. More spirited, like Hazel and Romy."

She tried to peek at Spencer's reaction without making it too obvious. They both sat on their mats and stretched their arms to their sides.

"Hazel is cute," Spencer approved thoughtfully, "But can you really imagine a successful adult named Romy?"

Aria's face fell in to a half frown. She hadn't thought about that. Naming a little human was such a huge responsibility. Spencer just made it even more difficult.

"Well, you do know where Hanna got the name Reese from, don't you?" Spencer showed zero remorse for bringing up Hanna's name.

"Reese Witherspoon. Her fashion and lifestyle icon."

Aria made a disapproving face, but didn't respond.

"Romy is at least more original than Reese, so there's that... " Spencer trailed off, finally picking up that she had attempted to open up a still sore wound.

They stretched in silence for several more minutes.

"What about Piper?" Spencer suggested.

Aria twisted at the waist to look at her, "I actually really like that," she smiled.

That night as Ezra was putting on his flannel sleep shorts Aria rolled over to face him. She let out a small sigh. Their life had become so complicated that even lying in bed couldn't be relaxing anymore.

"What about Piper?" She spoke, out of nowhere.

Ezra turned around, tying the drawstring on his shorts.

"For the babies? Piper as in...Piper Fitz?" He wrinkled his nose.

Aria felt deflated. They were never going to name them, and even though they still had enough time, and no idea on gender, Aria felt that their time was running out.

Ezra's face lit up with a goofy smile, "They're going to be boys anyway, so no need to even worry about it."

Ezra winked at her. She knew he was just being difficult on purpose, in hopes that she could cave in and have the anatomy scan done to reveal the sex of the babies. They had four more weeks to make up their minds and Ezra had been pulling out all the stops.

He crawled in to bed and lay motionless for a moment before rolling on to his side and wrapping an arm over Aria. She froze, unsure of what to make of the gesture. This was the most intimacy they had shown to each other since holding hands in the car a month ago on the way home from the disastrous dinner they had shared with Hanna and Caleb.

Aria had even began feeling tiny flutters, but chose to keep them to herself. For a second she felt guilty. Ezra would love to know more details of her pregnancy, she was sure. But Aria just wasn't sure how to move on from here and grow together. Not only as a couple, but as a soon to be family. In a small effort to show that she was willing to start working on it, Aria grabbed Ezra's hand and placed it over her belly button. It was his first time touching Aria's growing baby bump.

"They're pretty amazing, huh?" He asked her.

"I guess you could say that..." Aria answered back uneasily. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before speaking again.

"Let's find out the gender of just one baby."

"...Can you do that?"

"I think so. That way you can refer to at least one of them by gender. The second twin can be my surprise."

Ezra thought about it for a minute.

"Okay. But...only if I can name that twin too."

Aria sighed.

"I guess that's fair. I'll name the other twin then."

Ezra laughed a little to himself, "Well...for their sake I hope they aren't a girl. Because the name Piper is just ridiculous."

"Good night Ezra," Aria turned out the light and rolled back over to try and get comfortable enough to sleep.


	21. Chapter 20 - Just A Little Fluff

**[[Hey guys! Here is just a mini fluffy snippit. I am working on mapping out where I want to go with this story because I had a great idea tonight when I was bored at work. I think I can wrap this story up in about 30-35 'Chapters' and then I am prepping for a 'spin off' of sorts. Sound interesting to ya'll? I have had a lot of requests for Emily & Spencer to make their way in to the story, and believe me they are! Spencer already got her introduction last chapter. I haven't forgotten about them, I have just been waiting for the perfect place in the plot to insert them, to help make the most of their character. I think that you are all going to LOVE the remaining chapters, there are going to be some intense plot twists and turns! Can't wait to get them all written out and published for you all! Don't forget to follow and review please! :) ]]**

"Insert the screw from figure 6B in to part D..." Hanna instructed Caleb. He grunted in frustration.

"There are no more screws, Hanna! Are you sure you are on the right step?" Caleb searched around the floor exasperatedly.

"What do you mean there aren't anymore screws!? Did we get a crib that had been returned or something?!" Hanna rolled her eyes.

She was due in just two months and the scramble was on to get Reese's nursery together. Hanna had spent an entire day shopping between Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids. Within a ten hour time period she had managed to lay out nearly fifteen hundred dollars, and loaded down Caleb's Explorer so much that it was practically hugging the pavement.

Hanna had begged her mom not to throw her a baby shower. She figured that people would show up and make nice, but she knew the whispers that had gone around town about her. A baby shower would just be uncomfortable for everyone. Plus, Hanna loved that she got to shop and pick everything out herself. Who cares if she had to lay down her credit card to purchase it all. That's what they were for, right?

Caleb finally located the missing screw and twisted it in to place. It was the last piece to help secure the crib together, and with the final turn of the screw he dusted his hands off and stood back to admire his work.

"Not too shabby for someone who doesn't do a lot of work with his hands." Caleb congratulated himself.

"Okay, now here's the mattress, help me put the crib sheet on it." Hanna asked.

She spread her feet apart and slowly bent down to grab the pink sheet out of a plastic shopping bag. It was covered in tiny darker pink rosettes, with small green leafy vines swirling around them. Several minutes later the crib sheet was covering the mattress and it had been hoisted over the crib and in to position.

"Awww...I love it." Hanna smiled to herself. She was truly proud of her nursery design skills. It was romantic and earthy, exactly how she envisioned it. She had insisted that Caleb paint the walls a warm beige, and they had laid light oak wood floors down. A large olive green shag carpet rug had been laid in the middle of the floor. A white glider was in the corner with a baby pink blanket tossed over the back. The bedding was light pink with rosettes and lace. Hanna couldn't be anymore proud.

Caleb bent down and placed his face next to Hanna's protruding bump, "Well baby girl...you can come along any time now."

Hanna's jaw dropped in a half-playful, half-serious manner, "No baby girl. You stay put. You still have another two months to cook."

Caleb laughed, "You know what I mean baby Reese...you just take your time. Daddy will be here waiting for you, whenever you're ready."

Aria was laying on the couch in the living room, flipping aimlessly through the pages of a baby name book. Not looking at anything particular, just perusing to see if anything jumped off of the page and caught her eye. Names like Vivienne and Brody were nice, but nothing just felt right to her. She quickly became bored and shut the book, letting it fall off to the side and on to the floor. She slid herself back upright and sat on the couch in silence.

'Sweet, beautiful, golden silence...' She thought to herself. She hardly knew what it was anymore. Ezra was constantly talking her ear off about one thing or another. Ever since she hadn't rejected his gesture to feel her stomach he had been non-stop, seemingly going out of his way to try and over compensate for their lost time. He had taken her out to her favorite restaurants, purchased her maternity clothes, even bought her new shoes with more support to help with her ever increasing back pain. Needless to say he had gone from completely unattentive to slightly over bearing. But she was trying to deal with it and embrace it, because soon enough no one would be paying any attention to anyone but the twins.

Just then she heard the door knob twisting, and her beautiful golden silence was soon over.

"Babe, I had the greatest idea today while I was driving home," Ezra started before even saying hello, "What if we take a baby moon?"

"A baby...moon?" Aria had no idea what he was talking about.

"A vacation before the baby. To bask in the freedom that we have now, while celebrating our impending step in to parenthood."

Aria furrowed her eyebrows and stared at Ezra over the back of the couch.

"And the money to pay for this baby moon is going to come from whom?"

"I have my ways of paying...don't you worry your pretty little head Mrs. Fitz."

Aria's brows scrunched together even harder, and her lips puckered together in suite.

"I don't like the sound of that..."

"I said don't you worry about it. But start planning on what you're going to bring because we are going to Hawaii in approximately two months from tomorrow," Ezra tapped on his watch for emphasis.

"Uh...Hawaii is extremely expensive...and extremely far away. We can't afford that. We can't even afford to buy two cribs right now."

"Aria, stop. I said I can handle it." Ezra was beginning to become irritated. Aria just wouldn't let their financial situation go.

"But Ezra, do you really think it's smart to-"

"I called my mother today, alright!?" Ezra exploded. Aria's face turned from concern to irritation.

"Within hours of talking to her on the phone I had a significant sum of money placed in to our checking account. We will be fine." Ezra's voice had dropped to a much lower tone. A lower, and far more embarrassed tone, than the one he had been using before.

"So...like I said before. Please don't worry about it. Just go and buy yourself some things for vacation and enjoy some 'you' time. Make sure you use our debit card though...not the credit card. I'm trying to get rid of that damn thing..." Ezra placed his hands in his pocket and kicked at the corner of the couch haphazardly before walking out of the room, leaving Aria all alone.


	22. Chapter 21- That Lucky Bitch

**[[Hey guys! What did you all think of the big A reveal!? I can't lie...I was pretty disappointed. I was hoping that A would be Ezra (even though it was pretty unlikely that was gonna happen) but CeCe...really!? I hope that they pull it together and blow us away some awesome new story lines in 6B. Can't lie though, I was most disappointed that there was no Ezra in the finale! As always, hope that you enjoy and make sure that you leave me some reviews! Love reading what you all think! PS...there are quite a few flash backs in this chapter. I know that you guys have been asking for them, so here they finally are!]]**

Aria and Ezra had finally come to an agreement about taking a 'baby moon' as Ezra had so affectionately called it. Aria agreed upon going as long as they didn't go to Hawaii. The idea of being in a plane flying over the wide open ocean that long made Aria feel even more nauseous than she already was. Even though the doctors had given her anti-nausea medication she was still struggling with vomiting regularly.

They had agreed upon Arizona for their last vacation as just a couple, the Phoenix area to be exact. Ezra had swayed Aria in to Arizona by promising her beautiful scenery and lots of dry, dry heat.

"We can hike along Camelback mountain, or we can drive to Tucson and see what everyone write's country songs about..." He gave a half smile to her.

"You know I can't really go hiking right now Ezra." She set a hand on top of her ever-growing baby bump. He gave a side smile and squinted an eye at her.

"We could always go to Sedona and look at the beautiful red rock... find a cute bed and breakfast. I'm sure there's tons of them. That's the most touristy area there is."

Aria sighed.

"Or...if we get _that_ bored looking at the beautiful scenery that people travel thousands of miles to see...we could always drive in to California and see the ocean..." he suggested in a sing-song tone.

"The ocean?" Aria's heart jumped a little.

She had been hoping that Ezra would suggest a small trip in to California. It was only a four hour drive to the beach. The two had been trying to rekindle the spark and romance in their relationship and the ocean, Aria thought, was a pretty romantic spot to visit together. She had to hand it to him, Ezra had really been trying to be a more attentive and affectionate husband to her.

The feelings that he had once been harboring for Hanna were slowly starting to slip away. Although they weren't completely gone yet, he was making progress. Little things would make him think of her, just out of the blue. Several nights before, Aria had a craving for Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream. So much so, that she insisted they go to the grocery store at 9:30 at night to get it. When Aria leaned in to the freezer to grab the carton of ice cream, Ezra couldn't help but think of how Hanna could take thirty minutes to pick out her ice cream.

 _"Do I want cookie dough or...do I want rocky road?" Hanna asked Ezra._

 _"Rocky Road."_

 _"But...I think that I really want cookie dough." Hanna had a carton in either hand and was eyeballing them both._

 _"I'll just get one of each. What the hell. I've got nobody to impress by watching my figure," she raised an eyebrow at Ezra and quickly kissed his cheek as she brushed passed him to assure him that she was only kidding._

Aria's voice broke Ezra away from his day dream.

"I didn't know that Ben and Jerry's made one with pretzels and caramel swirl..." she trailed off while reading the packaging.

"I'll just get them both," she grinned up at Ezra holding both cartons in her hands.

Ezra couldn't think of how eerily similar the two girls mannerisms were. He shook it off and followed Aria to the check out to pay.

Moments like those tortured Ezra. They would sneak up on him without any notice and his mind would take him back to a time that he was trying so hard to forget.

"I think I should just get capris. My thighs would have practically quadrupled in size." Aria yelled through the wooden changing room door at Target.

"It's basically 110' every day in the summer in Phoenix. It's the _desert_ Aria. Get the shorts." Spencer urged.

"But I feel huge."

"You're pregnant. With twins. If you didn't feel that way it just wouldn't make sense." Spencer tossed several pairs of shorts in various colors and sizes over the door.

Aria let out a long, loud sigh so that Spencer could hear it.

"What about a skirt?"

"No way. I can hardly get up and down now as it is, let alone trying to do it and keep all my lady bits covered."

Spencer rolled her eyes and walked out of the changing room area, leaving Aria alone to make her final decisions. At only 4 months her pants already weren't fastening, or even coming all the way up over her thighs. And although she knew she was being a pain in Spencer's ass, she was thankful that she was always there for her when she truly needed her help.

 _"So, this is it!" Aria stood in front of the glass door with her arms out wide._

 _"This... is where you are thinking of starting your studio?"_

 _Spencer looked up and down the street, and then back at the door._

 _"Here?" She pointed again in disbelief of Aria._

 _Aria grinned and nodded her head excitedly._

 _"Isn't it awesome!?" The sun caught the facets on Aria's newest accessory, her engagement ring, as she brought her hands back down to her sides, catching Spencer's attention._

 _"So...what does Ezra think?"_

 _"He thinks that opening up my own studio is great."_

 _"What does he think that it's basically in the ghetto?"_

 _Aria scrunched up her face and turned to open the door._

 _"Doesn't matter. Plus, it's too late to ask his opinion about that now. I already signed the lease!" She was practically squealing with happiness._

 _Spencer's face fell and she shoved her hands in to her coat pockets as she quickly entered the building behind Aria._

 _"I thought we were just_ _ **looking**_ _at a space today?"_

 _"We are._ _ **You**_ _are looking at_ _ **my**_ _new space."_

 _The two spent the next month picking out colors, painting walls, laying new flooring and cleaning everything throughout the 800 square foot studio. It was just big enough for Aria to get her dream started. The night before Aria was to have her first client in, Spencer was helping her hand curtains up above the front window and get supplies sorted at her desk._

 _"I couldn't have done any of this without you," Aria squeezed Spencer's hand while looking at her finished space before leaving for the night._

 _"I know you couldn't have," Spencer cheekily replied._

 _She handed Aria a small box. Inside was a dainty necklace with a small camera and a small key dangling from the bottom._

 _"So you can't ever forget who helped you get started..." Spencer half smiled at Aria as she pulled her in to a hug._

 _"I"m proud of you."_

Aria walked out of the fitting room with a pair of shorts, a pair of capris and a top. Spencer was nowhere to be seen, so she put the items in her cart and wandered up and down the aisles looking for her. Surely enough she found herself in the baby section. Along with Spencer.

"I found some stuff I think you're going to need," Spencer told her while grabbing some items out of her cart.

"A boppy. I was reading the package and apparently all breastfeeding moms needs one to give the baby some support. So I got you two, of course," She tossed it back in to the cart.

"This kind of bib is supposed to be the best. You can wipe all of the crap that falls out of their mouth right off and use it again without having to put it through the washer...looks like I grabbed you about six of those..." She tossed the bib back in to the cart as well.

"Spencer...my mom is throwing me a baby shower you don't have to buy anything right now." Aria laughed.

"If I wait til your baby shower someone else will buy you all the good stuff." She gave Aria a side eyed glare and pushed past her towards the binkies.

"I read that babies are really picky about their binkies so we'll just get you one package of each kind and they can decide what they like the best..."

Aria shook her head. When Spencer got like this there was no way to tell her no.

"So, did Hanna have a baby shower?" Aria tried to act uninterested at her own question.

"Nope. She didn't want to draw attention to what she referred to as an "Awkward and uncomfortable topic"...sooo she just went out and maxed out Caleb's credit card." Spencer shrugged while tossing in some Huggies wipes. About ten packages of wipes to be exact. After looking at them Spencer thought that might not be enough, and tossed in six more.

"Twins...they require a lot of stuff." She said to herself as she pushed her cart on down the aisle. Aria was frustrated that Spencer wasn't biting.

"What did you send her?" Aria asked while pretending to read the back of a box of Pamper's diapers.

"A Michael Kors diaper bag with a $300 gift card to Babies R Us... why?"

Aria's face burned pink.

"I was just wondering if Ezra and I should send something."

Spencer dropped the bottle she was holding and cleared her throat.

"I would say probably not. But...nice thought I guess. What about Tommy Tippee bottles? Wanna give those a go?"

"If I'm breastfeeding do I need a bottle?"

"Who knows...I'm not a mom," Spencer tossed four Tommee Tippee bottles in to her cart as well.

When they finally made it to the check out Aria was overwhelmed with all of the baby merchandise that Spencer had decided she needed.

Two boppees, six bibs, sixteen packages of baby wipes, four tommee tippee bottles, six packages of binkies, eight boxes of diapers, every neutral baby outfit they could find and a baby bath tub.

"I'm not done yet either...this is just to make you feel like you're actually _having_ a baby before you jet off to go sweat in the desert for seven days," Spencer insisted as she swiped her credit card.

"What is that?" Ezra asked Aria as he was helping her bring the bags in from Spencer's SUV.

"I don't even know. Spencer did what Spencer does. She shopped. A lot." Aria set the bags down on the kitchen counter.

"And before you get upset, I didn't ask her to. I asked her _not_ to actually...but you know Spencer." Aria started taking things out of the bags.

"This is cute..." Ezra held up a white long sleeve onesie with little grey elephants all over it.

"Oh yea the matching...everything...is in there somewhere too."

Ezra eventually found the matching hat, bib, booties, socks and blanket.

"This is a little feminine for our sons, don't you think?"

"Don't be so sure of yourself Mr. Fitz. Our little ladies will look just fine in that." Aria snatched the onesie away and gave Ezra a kiss, the first one they had shared in months.

"I'm gonna go put these in the babies room." Aria grabbed the bags of clothing and waddled off down the hallway to the nursery.

"A Michael Kors diaper bag...AND $300...that lucky bitch..." she spoke to herself as she walked.


	23. Chapter 22 - Welcome To Rosewood Baby R

Hanna awoke with a jolt. Her stomach was cramping and relaxing, repeatedly. She pulled herself in to a sitting position and reached to her side to shake Caleb awake.

"Where the hell is he?!"

Hanna's hands frantically moved up and down Caleb's side of the bed in the dark. Her breathing quickened as another wave of pain shot through her abdomen.

"Oh God, Oh God, oh my sweet Jesus..." Hanna pleaded to herself as she attempted to breathe through what she guessed was a contraction.

"Caleb!" She cried. Nothing.

After the contraction let up Hanna pushed herself to her feet from the bed and quickly walked through their bedroom, all the while calling for Caleb with no response. She finally made it into the kitchen downstairs where she found a note from Caleb taped to the toaster. Hanna had been practically eating nothing but Ego waffles for the past week, so he knew she would find his note when she woke up.

"Hanna, Got called in for an emergency at work. Didn't want to wake you up, you looked like you were actually sleeping well for once. I should be home around 9am. See you in the morning beautiful - Caleb."

Another contraction began.

Hanna tried to look at the clock, praying that it would somehow be 9 o'clock and Caleb would walk through the front door any time now. The microwave was flashing 3am to her dismay. She let out a muffled scream as she balanced her weight against the back of a kitchen chair. Suddenly, Hanna remembered that her cell phone and one chance at getting any sort of help was left charging upstairs. She broke in to immediate tears.

"Oh my God...I'm going to kill him," Hanna promised herself.

She slowly made it up the stairs and decided to change her clothes and quickly pack her bag before attempting to call Caleb.

After high school Caleb had gotten a job as an EMT and recently had decided to get back in to the field after moving back to Rosewood to be with Hanna. It wasn't the field that anyone had ever imagined him in, but he found it refreshing after spending so much time behind a computer screen in the tech field. If he had an emergency, that meant that someone else had an emergency and they couldn't show up for their shift so he was covering for them. He wouldn't be able to answer his phone if she called him then, anyway.

Another contraction surged through Hanna. She was starting to really panic. Reese wasn't due for another two months. This was too early and Hanna wasn't anywhere near prepared. She picked up her cell hone and shakily dialed Emily.

Emily had moved to Georgia to give herself space from Rosewood and a fresh new s tart. She had started school with intentions of becoming a physical therapist, but later found herself finishing out medical school as a nurse practitioner instead. She had graduated several years ago but had chosen to stay in Georgia. She visited often though, once a month at least.

"Hello?" Emily groggily greeted Hanna on the phone.

"I am like 85% sure that I'm in labor and Caleb isn't even home."

Emily breathed in quickly and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up enough to hold a conversation.

"What are you talking about Hanna? What makes you think that?"

"It feels like she is trying to rip her way out of my uterus with her bare hands...Ahh" Another contraction.

"What would you like for me to do, Hanna? I'm all the way in Georgia right now.."

"You said you would be here with me when she was born Emily, I'm here all alone!"

Hanna began to cry again, but Emily ignored her. She was very used to always having to be the level headed one.

"You need to get to the hospital Hanna."

"But my bag isn't even packed yet," Hanna was tossing random pairs of underwear in and out of a duffel bag on their bed.

"Just go Hanna! Caleb can pack it for you later. But you need to go now! Especially if they are that close together."

Hanna hung up on Emily in frustration.

She managed to get herself in to the car and had it driving down the road towards the hospital. She had tried to call her mom, but no answer. She was probably asleep. Tomorrow was Sunday and that meant she had to be up early for church. About five minutes down the road Hanna felt a flood of something between her legs. Her water had broken, filling her seat with fluid and soaking through her yoga pants, and down her legs. In sheer panic and desperation Hanna pulled her car in to the nearest gas station and scrolled through her contact list searching for someone to call. She clicked on Caleb's name, it went straight to voicemail just like she had thought it would.

The next name she saw was Ezra's and without thinking she dialed him. It rang several times before he picked up.

"Hanna?"

"I need you to help me," Hanna yelled in to the phone, "Please come help me."

Ezra's stomach dropped at the tone of voice she was using.

"Where are you Hanna? What's wrong?"

Ezra threw the blankets off of himself as he slid out of bed. Aria rubbed at her eyes and craned her neck to see where he was going. He was pulling off his sweatpants and sliding on the same pair of jeans he had worn the day before.

"What's going on?" Aria groggily asked him, but he ignored her.

"Im at the Shell gas station on Stellhorn. I'm in labor and my water just broke while I was driving and I don't know what to do."

Ezra could hear her starting to breathe even more heavily.

"Can you pease just come help me? Just drive me to the hospital. No one else can." Hanna was powering through yet another contraction.

Ezra looked at Aria, who was still lying in their bed staring back at him.

"You're positive that you're in actual, active labor?" He questioned.

"I swear to God I will kill you in your sleep Ezra Fitz if I have this baby in my car." She threatened through gritted teeth.

"I'll be there," and with that he hung up.

"Hanna is about to give birth in the backseat of her Lexus. She asked me to come drive her to the hospital." He quickly explained to Aria.

"Where's Caleb?"

"Good question. She didn't say, she was too busy threatening to end me if I didn't show up." Ezra pulled a hoodie over his head.

"So you're going?"

"You sound confused...yes Aria! I'm going. I'll drive her to the hospital and be right home. I promise." He leaned over to kiss Aria, but she pulled away before finally giving in and leaning in to kiss him back.

'Caleb would do the same thing for me if I needed him...' Aria assured herself while trying to fall back asleep.

Ezra drove as fast as he could to the Shell station. He found Hanna's car parked in the back and tapped on her window. She had sprawled out across the backseat.

"GET IN." She yelled.

Her hair was damp with sweat and her face was red. Ezra immediately began the drive to the hospital. When her contraction eventually eased up she began trying to explain the situation to Ezra.

"Sorry you have to sit in my fluid," she began. Ezra had been trying to convince himself that Hanna had just spilled a drink in her haste of going in to labor. She just threw that speculation out the window.

"Caleb got called in to cover for a - Ahhhh." Ezra's eyes flew to the rearview mirror to check on Hanna.

"I reallly, REALLY...need you to hurry." She took several deep breaths, "I am really not trying to have this baby in my backseat."

Eventually they made it to the hospital. Hanna was immediately taken to the OB and set up in a labor and delivery room. Ezra had hung around in the background of the hustle and bustle to make sure that Hanna was fully taken care of before he returned home to Aria.

"Now, normally since you aren't to full term yet we would give you a medicine that would help to stop your labor. We can't do that any longer Miss Marin, because your water did in fact break. We will be delivering tonight and from the looks of things...we will be delivering soon. You're already dilated to an 8. Are you the father?" The nurse asked Ezra.

"Me? Oh..No. No, I'm just a concerned friend who drove her to the hospital. I'm actually just leaving uh- right now." He reached for the door handle but Hanna stretched her arm out.

"Please, can you stay? I really can't do this by myself." She pleaded.

Ezra swallowed the knot that had formed in his throat. Aria would be so upset if he stayed. He had promised to come right home. But he couldn't just leave Hanna all by herself. He backed away from the door.

"I suppose I could stay, at least until Caleb gets here...of course then I will step out."

"Oh, we contacted Mr. Rivers. He is actually working a trauma scene at the moment with a vast multitude of patients. He will probably not e able to be present for the birth. I'm so sorry Miss Marin."

Hanna bit at her lip and absent mindedly grabbed Ezra's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I think I need to push, I need to push. Can I push?!" Hanna unexpectedly began attempting to not bear down until the nurse had checked.

"Well...I just checked you several minutes ago and you were only to an 8 but I suppose I can check again."

When the nurse checked Hanna her jaw dropped and she began yelling for the nursing team to set up and begin preparations for delivery.

"Hanna, your baby is crowning and you are fully dilated and thinned. You're ready to deliver this baby."

The color drained from Ezra's face and he wasn't sure what to do with himself.

"You just stand here concerned friend, and hold Hanna's legs so she can push better."

Hanna pushed, and she pushed. Ezra wiped sweat off of her forehead and spoke encouraging words in to her ear. The whole time feeling dirty and guilty himself. He knew he had no business being in this delivery room. He was almost angry at Hanna for calling him and putting him in this situation, but she truly did need someone. And he would always be there for her, because they were friends, of course.

Hanna gave out one last scream, and Reese's shoulders were finally passed through the birth canal and the rest of her body slid out. When the doctor saw Reese he immediately whisked her out of the room and a small staff of nurses followed suite.

"What's wrong?" Hanna asked Ezra while her eyes darted around the room. Ezra had seen what was wrong, but didn't know how to tell Hanna.

"She looked perfect Hanna. Just beautiful. But so small...she probably just needs a little help. She'll be fine."

"If she's so fine then why can't I see her?!" Hanna was trying to push herself up off of the bed to look behind her.

"Miss Marin, your baby was born 2 months premature and so she has a few complications. The doctor will be in to talk to you in a little while, for now let's get you stitched up and cleaned up." The nurse insisted.


	24. CLARIFICATION

**[[There have been a lot of upset reviews on my last chapter in a short amount of time. So I just wanted to clarify that although I don't personally *love* Hanna & Caleb together, their relationship can't be sunshine and butterflies all the time. And yall had to know that there were going to be bumps in the road! This past chapter was setting up a story line for Reese, Emily, Spencer (even though she wasn't actually IN the chapter) and a short story line between Ezra and Caleb. The much chapter will be much more satisfying to all of my Haleb lovers. Promise :) ]]**


	25. Explanation!

Hi everyone! I am so sorry for my enormous lack of updates. My Dad was diagnosed with Stage4 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in late August and since then I fell off the bandwagon with writing. I just received a new laptop for Christmas and will have a lot of time to get back in to it, so keep your eyes opened! I am hoping to re-read my work and continue on with my stories as soon as the holidays & my house calm down!

Thank you for understanding,

Casey


	26. Chapter 23 - She's Asking For You

Ezra stood in the corner of Hanna's hospital room, watching the nurses shuffle about. Hanna's pain medication had made her drowsy and she finally fell in to a silent, light slumber. Caleb was still busy and hadn't been up to see her yet. Ezra tried to sneak out the door several times, but his conscience kept drawing him back in. He couldn't leave Hanna. Not like this, not when she might still need him eventually. Monitors beeped, lights flashed and Ezra held vigil at the door frame watching it all happen in slow motion.

Reese had been whisked away as soon as her umbilical cord was cut. Neither Caleb nor Ezra cut the cord, there wasn't any time. The doctor quickly picked up the surgical scissors and snipped it without saying a word while the nurse wrapped her up in a thick cotton hospital blanket and whisked her out of the room. Hanna struggled to see what was going on amidst all of the people who had suddenly flocked in and were quickly adjusting monitors and hitting keys on machines. The color quickly ran out of Ezra's face as he heard rumblings between the staff.

"Get us a bed in the OR stat. Place her on oxygen and ..." the doctor trailed off as he left the room with the nurse he was speaking to. Ezra's hands slid in to his pockets and his shoulders slumped down as he moved back and forth attempting to step out of someone's way, only to step right in to someone else's way instead. The doctors injected a sedative in to Hanna's IV to help her relax and rest until Caleb and the rest of her family could make it to the hospital.

Ezra was jolted out of his daydream by his cell phone chirping.

"Hello?" He answered, almost too quickly.

Aria was startled, "Hi." There was a brief pause on the line.

"It's not good Aria," He swallowed hard and walked out of the room to try and find a quieter place to continue their conversation.

Aria wasn't sure what to say, so she waited for Ezra. He quickly found an empty chair in the back row of a dark waiting room and finally relaxed his body within it.

"She was born... and then she was just taken away out of the room and now Hanna is knocked out from medication and I'm still here. Why am I still here? Why is Caleb not here? I, uh...I ... I think she's okay but I'm just not sure," he forcefully closed his eyes tightly shut and rubbed at the back of his neck. Why was this conversation so awkward?

"What do you mean she got taken away? What's wrong?" Aria attempted to jump out of bed to begin putting her shoes on, but her burgeoning bump made it nearly impossible to do anything at a rapid speed.

"The doctors have been tossing around a medical term that I can't quite catch, but from what I saw she has some sort of a growth around her belly button," Ezra explained flatly to Aria.

"A growth...like a tumor? Is it big? Can we see her?"

"Aria. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I'm not Hanna's husband. I'm not Reese's father. I have absolutely no rights to know anything about this situation, nor do I want to. I will be home within the hour. I'm leaving right now." He pushed himself up out of his chair to leave.

"What! Ezra...you can't go. Hanna needs you." Suddenly Aria had forgotten, at least for a moment, all of the turbulence that had been in their life for the past year. She was struggling to balance her weight while sliding a sock on her right foot.

"No, Aria. Hanna needs Caleb. Why is Caleb not here? What kind of dead beat doesn't leave work and show up when their baby is being born?" Ezra felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Dead beat Dad, at your service. I finally made it...what room is Hanna in?" Caleb gave a wide grin. He was riding too much of an excited high from the news of Hanna giving birth to let Ezra's cheap shot bring him down. At least, for now. He would save that comment and revisit it later. Ezra hung up on Aria with no explanation.

"Uh...listen, Caleb. There's something that you should know before you walk in..." Caleb's face went ghost white. His grin dropped off of his face and he turned and began sprinting through the hallway. He reached the nurses station and smacked his hands on the counter.

"Where is my girlfriend? Hanna Marin. She just had a baby," the nurses were stunned and stared at him in disbelief with wide eyes.

"I SAID, WHERE IS HANNA MARIN'S ROOM?" Caleb yelled.

"Room 312." A nurse managed to choke out before turning back to her computer.

Aria sat on the edge of her bed staring at what she could see of her feet past her belly. One foot had a sock and an Ugg boot on it, the other just a sock. She was already out of breath, and she was barely half way through her pregnancy. She took a deep breath and leaned forward as far as she could to get her second Ugg boot on her right foot.

"Ahh...got it," Aria let out a deep sigh and pushed herself off of the edge of the bed to look for a sweatshirt. None of her tops fit her any more so she pushed through Ezra's side of the closet. Mostly it consisted of button up oxfords and sweaters, but at the very back there were a few basic cotton pull overs from the days that Ezra thought he wanted to get back in shape. Aria took another deep breath and attempted to pull the sweatshirt down over her head and adjusted it over her baby bump. It barely covered the bottom half of her stomach, but today it would just have to do. She was in a hurry, even though she wasn't sure what she was in a hurry for. To go sit in the hospital waiting room all day long? To hear bad news about someone else's baby? To feel guilt that her babies were more than likely completely healthy and Hanna's baby had something so wrong with it that she hasn't even gotten to lay eyes on her properly yet?

"Don't overthink this situation Aria. You are just going to be emotional support for Ezra..." She spoke to herself in the mirror as she twisted her long messy hair in to a heavy knot on top of her head. She swiped a coat of mascara on her eye lashes and rubbed some chap stick on her lips before grabbing her purse and darting out the door and slamming her Civic in to reverse on to the road.

Ezra and Caleb were seated next to each other in the waiting room when Aria arrived at the hospital.

"Hi, I got here as fast as I could waddle," Aria tried to joke to break the tension in the room.

Caleb didn't look at her, he kept his eyes focused on the door to the maternity ward. Someone should be coming through that door any second to fill him in on what was happening with Hanna and Reese.

"It's called Gastroschisis. Reese has...Gastroschisis." Ezra began explaining.

"She was born with part of her small intestine protruding from a hole beside her belly button. It's not very rare, but it's pretty serious." He rubbed his hands up and down the top of his thighs, staring at the tile floor before looking up to greet Aria's gaze.

"She's back in surgery right now. She's been in for about an hour...or so," Ezra quickly glanced at Caleb before looking back to Aria.

"They said they would come get us when we heard anything..."

Ezra shot Aria a flat smile and patted the seat beside him. She slowly sat down and let her heavy purse fall to the floor with a loud thud that broke Caleb out of his trance. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair.

"Thanks for coming Aria."

"Oh...Caleb," Aria stood up and leaned towards Caleb to embrace him in a hug.

"I'm so sorry."

"It will be fine, you know. They uh...they keep telling me it will all be fine. Just a little uh..." Caleb's voice began cracking and the corners of his mouth began twitching.

"Oh Caleb...Oh no, no don't cry. It _will_ be okay. If they say it will be okay then it will. The surgeons are so skilled and well trained, I'm sure that this will be an easy surgery and she will come out and be just fine." Aria's voice began breaking as well as she pulled Caleb in tighter to her shoulders. She heard him take a deep breath, and then he finally let the sobs escape from within his body.

Ezra sat awkwardly staring at Aria's back as she helped Caleb mentally process what was currently happening in his life. He couldn't help but wonder if Aria should be comforting him instead of Caleb. After all, they still weren't 100% positive that Caleb was Reese's Dad, at least biologically. Of course, he had already volunteered to be her Dad no matter whose DNA she shared. But if Reese was actually his, he wasn't sure how he would feel about Caleb being so devastated over her surgery.

Suddenly the door to the maternity ward opened.

"She's asking for you," the nurse walked over and tapped Caleb on the shoulder.

"Hanna, she's asking where you are."

He quickly dropped his embrace from Aria and followed the nurse back to Hanna's room.


	27. Chapter 24 - 2 Days

A month's time had passed and everyone was feeling as if time itself was in limbo. No one was really coming or going, time was not progressing...everyone was stuck in a state of perpetual lethargy. Everyone except Aria.

"Are you supposed to be able to see my belly button through my t-shirt? That means it's too small...doesn't it?" Aria asked Spencer. She tipped her head slightly to the left as she pulled the seams of the shirt down over the waist band of her pants.

"Well...Yea. I think it's safe to say that shirt is beyond too small. It was probably even too small when you wore it before you got pregnant." Spencer slid her hand down the back collar of the shirt and pulled out the tag.

"It's not even maternity Aria. No wonder you can see your belly button." Spencer rolled her eyes. She had told Aria numerous times that it was time to just bite the bullet and finally purchase some maternity clothing. Aria had purchased things here and there, but not nearly enough to get her through a week without repeating something twice and doing numerous loads of laundry.

Aria let out a short sigh, more of a disgruntled huff, and slide the t-shirt back up over her head. Once again reaching towards the back of the closet and grabbing one of Ezra's cotton hoodies. They had practically become a staple during her pregnancy.

"Again?" Spencer eyeballed her disapprovingly.

"Again." Aria pulled her hair out of the collar of the sweatshirt and pulled it over a shoulder. She ran her fingers through it several times before dividing her locks up in to thirds and starting to loosely braid it.

"So...where's Ezra?" Spencer sat down on the bed and started to flip through a magazine absent-mindedly. Just like she had done years ago when they were just teenagers in high school. Sometimes it felt like nothing had really changed much.

Aria paused. She wasn't sure what to say. Was Ezra's location supposed to be a secret, they hadn't really discussed it much. She bit at the side of her bottom lip for a moment.

"He had a doctor appointment..." She trailed off.

"For what?" Spencer asked without really thinking, or caring for that matter.

"DNA?" Aria slipped a hair tie around the end of her braid several times before pulling at the strands to make it appear messier and more worn than it really was. Spencer let a page of the magazine fall from her hands and flutter down to the bed.

"Today? Like...right now? Ezra went to get a DNA test done?" Just those words made Aria's mouth run dry and her lips feel heavy. She didn't want to tell Spencer that Ezra was having doubts about Reese being Caleb's. She didn't even want to tell herself that. But just one look at little Reese, even being as tiny as she was, and everyone raised an eyebrow.

"It's court ordered," Aria lied.

"The hospital wouldn't let anyone sign the birth certificate until a DNA test was done to prove who the father truly is... uh, and you know that Reese needs a Dad. So...he went to take a DNA test. Just to get it out of the way," she stuttered through her lie.

"Uh huh. Okay." Spencer picked another page of the magazine up and turned it, not believing Aria's lie for one second, but sensing that Aria wasn't comfortable with talking about it. Spencer decided that she would let it go for now and revisit the topic again if there was ever a _need_ to.

Reese was still in the NICU at the hospital she had been born at just one month before. Weighing in at only 4 pounds 3 ounces and 17 inches long, she was far too small to be discharged. Not to mention the surgery she had undergone and the recovery time from it. Hanna had been discharged from the hospital just several days after giving birth, but practically lived in the NICU with Reese.

Caleb had been spending every free moment he had with Hanna and Reese. He came in the morning before work and he came in the evenings when he left work, often times falling asleep in the chair next to Reese's bassinet leaving Hanna to shake him awake and insist that he go home and get some rest. Hanna went home late at night and came back in very early in the morning. She was thankful that her job had allowed her to take an extended leave of absence, otherwise she wasn't sure how she would have coped with Reese being in the hospital all by herself day in and day out.

Ezra had not been to visit either Hanna or Reese since the day Reese was born. When Hanna awoke from her drug induced slumber the first person she asked for was Caleb. And as Ezra sat in the waiting area with Aria he knew that the paternity of Hanna's baby was irrelevant. She had decided long before giving birth who the father would be, regardless of whose genetics played a role in it all. He felt uneasy, but relief at the same time. Now that Reese was born he could focus on what was really important to him.

 _Ezra reached for Aria's hand, and he gently squeezed it as he interlaced their fingers together. They had been sitting in the waiting room for over an hour waiting on Caleb to come back from Hanna's room._

 _"I love you." he whispered to her over the sound of shuffling throughout the halls of the hospital._

 _Aria's cheeks flushed, it had been quite some time since she had heard Ezra say those words to her, and her actually believe him._

 _"I love you too..." she smiled back and gently squeezed his hands in return._

 _"Thank you for loving me." His bright blue eyes shone honesty, love and sincerity within them._

 _Aria giggled a little._

 _"Well, you're welcome..." She smiled, "But what brought all of this on?"_

 _"Because..." his voice softened as he went on, "You loved me when I wasn't very lovable...you kept me when I wasn't very want-able," he stopped for a moment second guessing his choice of words, "And you let us stay a family even when I jeopardized us."_

 _Aria didn't say anything back. There was nothing to be said. Ezra was finally owning up to what he had done wrong. He was finally showing Aria that he was ready to be the man that she needed again, and she truly believed for the first time that Ezra was 100% ready to be involved in being a father to their twins._

"I don't even know why you're worried. You don't have anything to worry about."

Hanna was clearly annoyed with Caleb. He had practically worn a ring in the area rug in her living room for pacing so much.

"Would you stop folding laundry? You make me a nervous freaking wreck when you fold the same laundry over and over again Hanna," Caleb folded his arms in front of his chest, "It drives me crazy! She hasn't even worn those clothes yet, how can they already need washed?"

Hanna cleared her throat and sat down on the couch.

"It makes me feel like a Mom when I do her laundry. So, I have been alternating drawers and doing a load of laundry every few days. Just like I would if she were at home with us. Where she belongs."

Hanna knew how pathetic she sounded, but she didn't care. She knew she was being pathetic period. She was angry at all of the things she was missing out on due to Reese still being in the hospital. Hanna had planned to breastfeed Reese and was actually, really looking forward to it. But due to her medical condition when she was born Hanna never even got the chance to attempt it. Pieces of her small intestine had to be removed, and due to that surgery Reese was given a special formula that would be more gentle on her digestive system. Hanna couldn't even feed her through a bottle. Due to her prematurity Reese lacked the ability to suck on a bottle and was ultimately given a feeding tube. With time it would come out though, and Hanna was sure that she would feel like more of a mother when she could finally sit in a rocking chair with her baby and feed her a bottle herself.

Caleb felt sad, and embarrassed, for Hanna. And himself.

"I'm sorry. I just could puke at the thought of this test turning out..."

"Don't even think like that Caleb. There's no way." Hanna insisted.

"But you don't _really_ know that. You thought it was Ezra's for months." Caleb was becoming hostile again towards Hanna.

"Why don't we just wait until we get the results back before we have this fight _again_." Hanna tucked the feet in on a pair of footie pajamas as she folded them in half and placed them in a white laundry basket.

"Two more days, Hanna. Two more days and then our lives can go back to being normal...or not."

"I hate it when you talk like that. Like, you would just up and leave us if Reese isn't yours." Now it was Hanna's turn to be hostile.

"I never said that."

"Yea well, you don't have to. It's in the tone of voice you use when you talk to me...it's in the way that you hold yourself when you're talking to me...body language Caleb. You don't always have to use your words." And with that Hanna picked up her basket of very, very clean baby clothing and pushed passed Caleb and continued on down the hallway.


End file.
